The Witness
by Laurenio567
Summary: When Maya witnesses a shooting, neither she nor the police realize how serious the crime really is. But when someone comes after Maya again, a person from Maya's past enters her life again, this time to protect her. She was the only living witness and whoever was behind the shooting is still out there. And they'll stop at nothing to make sure Maya doesn't talk. Lucas/Maya
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Maya walked down the sidewalk, hands shoved deep into her pockets in failed attempt to rid her hands of the cold that was slowly seeping into her bones. The cloud cover that had filled the New York skyline for the past few days had been swept away last night, leaving the sky clear and the brisk wind and freezing temperatures to settle back into the city, fighting their way into every home without a heater, every soul without a coat. Maya's short, heeled boots clopped quietly down the street as she made her way home from her subway stop. Her purse bounced rhythmically against her hip and her blonde curls were pulled into high bun on the top of her head, a few wisps framing her face, fallen down after a long day of work.

She had been working her butt off recently; being on the leasing architectural team was not nearly as easy as she had imagined it to be. All day she labored away up in a sleek skyscraper, a beautiful view she might add, to help design new buildings for any person who was not content with the previous building on the land they were renting. Slowly but surely Maya was helping update New York to the best it could be, starting with the old, safety-hazardous buildings. She not only made the new ones beautiful, she worked to make them safe, prioritizing others' safety and well-being, something Mr. Matthews had instilled in her in her adolescence. She clung to those lessons he had taught, formed her life around them. She hadn't been to the Matthews' house in quite a bit, and she mentally put that on her already crammed schedule to-do list.

The sun was setting low in the sky, the clear day letting the last rays of the evening be seen between the concrete walls that had been erected in the city. For February, it was still very cold, but these few rare peeps of sun brought the feeling of spring to those who quieted themselves enough to acknowledge the few buds appearing on the trees, scared to open up, but there nonetheless. Maya was one of these people that took notice of the coming spring and looked forward to it. Spring was one of her favorite seasons to paint, not that she'd have the free time to paint as her hobby, but here and there she might find a break to sketch. Oh how she missed her hobby days. She loved how her job still incorporated her art, but it just wasn't the same.

"Oh well," she sighed to herself, the wind carrying her words off, "that's how life goes. All work, no play. The joys of growing up." She shouldered her messenger bag along with her purse, keeping them from sliding down her arm. Right as she had spoken, the cold air had infiltrated her lungs, sucking the warmth from inside. She shivered and quickened her pace. What she wouldn't give to be snuggled away in a cabin somewhere, sipping cocoa, her small feet propped in front of a blazing fire. Although her apartment did have heating, it was always cold. Not the temperature, just the rooms. The first words that popped into her mind when she had been shown the rooms she was considering renting were "space age". Everything was glass, box shaped, and in neutral colors. But the appliances had been updated, the walls already covered in expensive works, and the style just fulfilled her dream of living somewhere she pictured an accomplished, successful woman would live. She had rented the flat.

After living in the flat for close to a year, Maya's taste had changed. She grew to realize that after a long day of work, she wanted a sanctum, a hideaway to run to where she could gather her thoughts, relax, pause for a few moments in her busy day, catch her breath. But her flat did not welcome her. The floors were cold, the rooms echoed, and the open concept floor plan made her feel even smaller. Her view of the sky was obstructed by other buildings cornering her flat's window, closing in on her. She could see down into the streets, this she enjoyed, especially loving the people-watching opportunities, but by the time she arrived home, it was too late and too dark usually to people-watch, or even to paint something from her window. She missed the bay window. She missed her cozy room from when she was a teenager. She missed her mom who had moved to New Jersey when Maya had gone to college.

"I should call her." Maya mumbled as she turned down another street. "She probably thinks I've fallen off the face of the earth." Maya had meant to call her mom a few days ago, but she had a knack for being very forgetful. She was seriously considering hiring her secretary at the office full time. Her phone began to ring. She grumbled about never getting a breath of clean air and rummaged in her cluttered purse for her iPhone that had been a gift from her dad that he had sent two Christmases ago. While searching for the phone, she found a receipt that she had yet to record in her check book. She crammed it back down into her purse, putting it off yet again, and answered her phone.

"Hello?"

"Where are you?" Riley's voice crackled in concern through the phone.

"What do you mean?" Maya asked. "I'm a block from home. Where are you?"

"At home, setting the table. For our _dinner_." Riley's voice dripped with disapproval. Maya's shoes scuffed lightly on the pavement as she halted.

"Riley I'm so sorry! I completely forgot!" she cried. She had just remembered that tonight she had scheduled dinner with Riley and Farkle. She had even put it in her calendar. Why hadn't her phone reminded her?

"I expected you had." Riley's voice grew soft again, her usual, forgiving self shining through. "I'm keeping the food in the oven, it won't get cold. I called to make sure nothing bad had happened."

"I'm just fine." Maya promised, her heart still full of regret. She couldn't even remember dates with her best friend anymore.

"Farkle should be home in five minutes, then when you get here we can eat and then maybe watch a movie or something. Unless you can't stay for long." She offered.

"I can stay for a while." Maya promised, ignoring the fact that she knew tomorrow would be a long day and she probably needed a lot of sleep. Oh well. She would just get an extra shot in her coffee tomorrow morning and sneak an energy drink in during her lunch hour, even though her boss thought energy drinks were unprofessional.

"Great. See you here then." Riley's chipper voice finished and the call ended. Maya dropped her phone promptly back into its designated pocket that it should have been in the first place. At least she would know it was there for next time. Unless she forgot it was in the pocket and searched the whole purse again. Thinking about it, she decided that's exactly what might happen, but decided to just leave it alone. She was overthinking everything. She looked around the almost empty street, a few people getting into their cars, a few hurrying into their flats, a handful out strolling. She had to decide whether to stop home first or turn around and go straight to Riley's. She decided that she was already late and that she might as well go put on a heavier coat and grab a loaf of bread from her flat as a peace offering for Riley. She hurried down the street, into her building and into the elevators.

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By the time Maya was back on the streets, it was clearly dusk. The sun had almost completely set and the streetlights had just turned on. She reached the nearest subway stop and briskly jounced down the stairs, feeling much lighter having left her messenger bag at home. By the time she had scanned her pass and was waiting at her stop, the after-work rush had already passed, leaving only a few people waiting with her. She looked at the screen showing train times and huffed in frustration when she saw that the nearest one was still ten minutes away.

"Where are you off to?" a lady that looked to be in her late forties asked Maya. She looked up, startled out of her thoughts. Maya was not a very warm person, and spending the last three years out of high school alone had not made her any more personable.

"Just dinner with my friends." She mumbled.

"Hope your kids aren't missing you." The lady smiled. Maya cringed inwardly.

"I don't have kids."

"Oh?" the lady looked surprised.

"I'm only twenty-one." Maya explained.

"Ah," the lady slowly nodded, "a working woman. I remember those days."

"You have kids now?" Maya asked, trying not to be too inconsiderate. The lady was obviously lonely tonight.

"Indeed, got four." She nodded. "One of my girls is in college, about your age, but the other three are still at home and I'm late to make dinner for them."

"Yeah, my friends probably aren't too happy with me for being late for dinner." Maya said, then wondered why she was still trying to make conversation. "Nice talking to you." Maya waved and made a quick escape and over to a bench on the other side of the platform to sit. The bench was cold like everything else and she was soon shivering again, even in her heavy coat. But she wasn't unhappy with the cold. It was cold because she was in New York and she loved New York. No place she'd rather be. At least her life was right in that sense.

"Stop." She mentally scolded herself. "Your life is just fine. Good job, good flat, not needy or dependent. You're fine." Out of the corner of her eye, Maya saw a shorter man walking up to her, his hands held out slightly.

"Any money, ma'am?" he asked quietly, head bowed. Maya slipped a few pieces of change from her pockets and gave them to the man.

"Take care." She nodded slightly to him and watched him shuffle away. She shut her mind off from thinking about that man's life. Nothing she could do about it. She just gave him money. She shouldn't feel bad. But where was the train? Riley was going to be so put out. Dinner would be freezing if the train didn't hurry up. They might just need to order out for pizza, even though Riley wasn't a huge fan of anything with tomato sauce.

"What's going on?" a frightened voice cried out, then small screams and yelps followed. Maya's head darted up and she looked around. What was going on now? Things happened in New York. She wasn't alarmed by unusual things. She'd seen just about everything. But when she saw the lady she had been talking to just a few short moments ago, cowering in front of gun pointed directly at her, Maya's heart rate accelerated.

"Please don't shoot!" the woman cried. "Please!"

"Shut up!" the gunman's face was covered in a ski mask. Original, Maya scoffed to herself, even though she knew she was getting frightened. "Anyone moves and I shoot." The man threatened. Maya didn't dare get off her bench. She thought about calling 911, but thought better of it. Reaching for her phone counted as moving. If this man wanted money, he could get it and get out, no harm done. She should just wait.

"You!" the man pointed the gun at the homeless man Maya had talked to moments before. "And you." He trained the gun back on the lady. "Over against that wall." He gestured for them to move. They hurried over to the wall opposite the tracks. The man turned and gesture two other citizens over to the wall as well, one a man in a business suit, the other a man in jeans and sneakers. Then he trained the gun on Maya. "Pretty girl, move!" he shouted, his booming voice echoing off the walls. She collected her purse and hurried to join the other, squeezing next to the woman, not even caring that the lady had two tears sliding down her face. The woman took Maya's hand and squeezed it encouragingly. The man looked around with quick and choppy movements, scanning the platform for anyone else. Satisfied that he had everyone, he looked back to the group gathered along the wall.

"You don't need to do this." The man in the suit spoke up suddenly.

"You don't understand." The gunman growled. "Just stay quiet and don't move."

"I'll give you what you've come for." The man in the suit offered. The gunman's head jerked up when the man said that. "That's why you're here."

Maya tried not to think. She tried to ignore the woman crying next to her, tried to ignore the stench of fear strangling her down in the dank, cold platform. Where was everyone? Where was help? Where was that train? Didn't anyone hear the commotion? What did this man want? And what did the man in the suit know? Would she make it out alive? So many unanswered questions attacked her mind. Before the man in the suit could speak again, the gunman wheeled on the homeless man and fired. The lady next to Maya screamed. Maya clamped her eyes shut and tried to press farther back against the wall. She heard the gun go off again and she knew the man in the jeans was shot.

"Stop screaming." The gunman turned to the lady next to Maya. Then the gunman looked at Maya. Their eyes locked for the briefest second and Maya stared him down. But he looked away before Maya could dare him to shoot her next.

"Take whatever you want and leave!" the woman pleaded. A loud pop and the woman fell to the floor. Maya screamed, blood splattering her coat and purse. Maya took the opportunity to throw her purse away from her so that if the man wanted money, he could take it. But he barely even noticed the bag.

"The Boss always gets what he wants." The gunman turned back to the man in the suit. The man looked over to Maya and looked at her, concern and pain written across his face.

"Let the girl go." The businessman pleaded for Maya.

"No witnesses!" the shooter cried and with that he turned and fired at her. Maya screamed and threw herself on the ground, the bullet whizzing past her. She felt a searing pain in her left shoulder, but she was alive. But she stayed motionless on the ground, listening.

"She was just a girl." The businessman's voice was choking up. They thought she was dead. "That wasn't necessary." Maya heard sirens off in the distance. Were they coming here?

"No second chances." The shooter announced and then he fired the gun again and Maya heard the businessman's body hit the ground. Then the gun fired once more and she heard the gun clatter across the floor. She dared herself to lift her head and look through her matted and bloody hair. She saw the gunman lying a few feet away, and his gun a few feet from him. Was he dead? The room was spinning, visions of the scattered bodies making her feel sick. She hoped she was in a nightmare. She prayed to God that this was a dream, even though she hardly ever prayed. She was desperate. The cool concrete felt good on her cheek as she laid her head back down. Where was she bleeding? Did it matter? She wished she could've said something kinder to Riley on the phone. She wished she had called her mother. Was she in shock? She had expected getting shot to hurt a lot more. Maybe she was dying. She closed her eyes delicately, promising herself that she was only resting until help came.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Riley accepted the fifth bouquet of flowers that the nurses had brought that day. For a girl who could be so abrasive and harsh, a lot of people cared about Maya. Since Maya was still sleeping off the anesthetic given for her surgery, Riley had taken it upon herself to arrange the flowers, balloons, and cards in her temporary hospital room just right. Riley knew Maya would complain about the amount of pink, the sappiness of the cards, and the fact that the flowers probably didn't even have a smell, probably purchased at a grocery store, but even if Maya had criticizing things to say, Riley was just hoping she'd say something. The recap of what Maya had been through had been on three news stations, the radio, and newspaper that she had received that morning.

"Tea, nice and hot." Farkle popped in and handed Riley a paper cup of tea. She smelled it. Nice and cheap, nothing like the hospital food court.

"Thanks." Riley gave Farkle a sad smile and sipped the drink quietly. Farkle looked at his wife in concern.

"She'll be alright, Riley." He assured her. She didn't reply. "A lot of stuff." Farkle looked around the room at the vases. "Any more press issues?" he asked. Riley shook her head. During the night the press had been trying to get statements from anyone who knew anything, but as the night turned to dawn, the hospital staff had gotten it under control.

"Come sit with me." Farkle took Riley's hand and guided her to the couch by the room's window. "She's eventually going to wake up and that has nothing to do with how hard you stare at her." Riley let herself be placed on the couch and then gently rested her head on Farkle's shoulders, too concerned, too numb to feel the exhaustion she knew she should be feeling at having been up all night. "You tired?" Farkle asked as if reading her mind.

"Not really." Riley mumbled in a daze. "Haven't had time to think about it I guess."

"Where'd Katy go?" Farkle asked about Maya's mom. When he had left Maya, Riley and Katy had both been in the room.

"Sign some papers, contact her dad, and get some breakfast I think." Riley explained. "She knows that Maya probably won't be waking up this instant." Riley finished her sentence with a large yawn, one that made her eyes water.

"You are tired." Farkle told her. "I should take you home."

"Are you out of your mind?" Riley asked quietly. "I'm not leaving until Maya does. We have to think of what's best for her."

"I need to think of what's best for you." Farkle countered. "That's kind of my job, remember? You need a hot bath, a good meal, rest."

"I always need those things." Riley brushed his words away. "Besides, I'm not just worried about Maya's health. As soon as she wakes up, things will get ugly. You know the police are waiting to speak to her. They need her statement."

"Riley, it will be routine. Maya is tough. The police just want to know what the guy said, who else was there, how it went down. She's not a suspect, the security cameras confirmed that." Farkle rehashed the situation. "Maya is merely helping pick up the pieces."

"She is the pieces." Riley whimpered. "Who's going to pick her up?"

"Come here." Farkle took her tea and set it on the table then enfolded Riley in his arms. She breathed deeply, his scent calming her. The events of the night played repeatedly in her mind, each time the exact same thing, the fear still fresh in her mind. She had just hung up with Maya when Farkle had gotten home….

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"Do I smell shepherd's pie?" Farkle asked as soon as the front door opened. Riley laughed and closed the oven, leaving it on to keep the food warm until Maya arrived.

"Maybe, maybe not." She teased as he hung up his coat and tossed his keys on the couch.

"I told you to keep your keys on the table." Riley pointed to the table sitting by the door. "They get lost in the couch cushions, remember?"

"I'll move them later." Farkle promised.

"Mmhm." Riley raised an eyebrow and then was greeted with a big hug and a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Where's Maya?" asked Farkle as he looked around and smiled at how fortunate he and Riley were. Their medium-sized condo on the outskirts of Manhattan was such a blessing. The entire place had been a blank slate when they had arrived, newly-weds looking for a place to crash and start from scratch, fresh out of high school, a few months of college under their belts, and a bit of money. They had chosen here. And it was perfect. Riley had immediately gotten to work making the place feel like home. She had decorated it in mints and peaches and pastel yellows. It was calm, but comfy and cozy. There was enough room for guests, enough room for Maya to stay a night of two if she wanted, which she used to do quite a bit, but she had recently been very busy. Life was taking off with her. Riley and Farkle both planned to move to a house in a New York suburb and settle down more permanently, have kids, build a stable life. But for now, this was home.

"She forgot." Riley sighed as she finished setting the table.

"Again?" Farkle asked sadly. This was the third time Maya had forgotten plans she's had with them. "Is she still coming?"

"She says she's coming as quickly as possible, but I expected her to get here about the same time you did. You're early." She smiled at him.

"I was excited to see you." He winked at her and she shook her head, smiling.

"Aw. How was work?" she asked as she settled down on the couch next to him.

"Pretty mundane." He shrugged and Riley laughed. She wouldn't describe being one of the head managers at Minkus International mundane. Farkle eventually wanted to pursue science, astronomy careers, but he had to finish college first and so he'd taken up his father's business with him to earn some money. He took classes in the evening and on the weekends. He was a busy man. But he and Riley still made a lot of time for each other.

"Oh where is that girl?" Riley huffed. "The food will get cold. And you know, I bet she'll complain about it. Even though it will be her fault." She stood up and made her way back into the kitchen, just to comfort herself, do something, move. She hated wasted time. Maya loved wasting time, lying around, breathing in the moments. Riley wanted every minute to count. And right now, Maya was wasting her minutes.

"Call her again, maybe she forgot." Farkle called with sarcasm. "I'm gonna go change while we wait." He announced and she heard their bedroom door shut. She sighed and dialed Maya's number again. She got her answering machine. Riley rolled her eyes and put her phone back on the kitchen counter. Maya could be so annoying sometimes.

"Well I'm hungry!" Riley called to Farkle.

"Let's wait five more minutes." Farkle replied as he came into the kitchen, struggling with his tie. Riley giggled and walked over to help him untie it. She handed him the fabric.

"There you go, little boy."

"Thanks, Hun." He smiled and patted her back. He disappeared back into the bedroom and finished changing into worn jeans and a t-shirt. He slid into his slipper and trudged back into the living room, starting to feel hunger clawing at his stomach.

"Ok, I'm getting hungry too." He admitted as he stepped into the living room where Riley was arranging some flowers she must have picked from their window box that day.

"She should've been here by now." Riley shook her head. "She doesn't live that far away. She wouldn't forget another time. The subway must be late."

"Well it's almost eight-thirty. Where is she?" Farkle frowned.

"Well maybe she-" Riley began but was cut off when a loud knocking sounded on the door. Riley sighed and went to get the door. "Lena." Riley said when she saw her next door neighbor standing on the 'welcome' doormat. "What can I do for you?"

"Wonderin if I could borrow some sugar." The lady in her early thirties peered into the condo and smiled. "Always so cozy. Somethin smells mighty good."

"Just made dinner." Riley smiled. "Come in for a bit." She opened the door wider and Lena stepped in. "Sugar, you said?"

"Yes please. Tryin to whip up something quick for the kids before I go to work." She sounded out of breath.

"Work? I thought you had Thursdays off?" Farkle asked as he offered her a chair and she shook her head quickly.

"Not tonight. Big to-do up north a bit, big shooting. Gotta get in and start lookin at all the dead bodies." She sighed. Lena was an EMT, but still had to take care of two kids. She always seemed exhausted. Riley had always wished she could help out, but there never seemed a good time to offer her services.

"Dead?" Riley asked sadly. "Multiple?"

"This one was a bad one." Lena shook her head. "Just happened a few minutes ago. Such a hassle for us EMT's. We know they're dead, but we gotta go anyways, look em over, say they're dead so everyone will believe it, then come back home. Waste of gas money if you ask me. Anyone can look at the bullet holes and pronounce someone dead."

"Did anyone say what it was about?" Farkle asked.

"Guy shot himself too. No one knows." Lena sighed and took the cup of sugar that Riley offered to her. "Thanks so much."

"Want me to look in on your kids?" Riley asked.

"Don't feel obligated, but I'll tell them you might stop by, just in case." Lena nodded.

"Ok." Riley nodded.

"Turn on the news and see about that shooting," Lena started to laugh, "with any luck you might see me on TV." She laughed at herself, then her usual look returned and she waved and hurried out. Riley shut the door slowly and looked back at Farkle.

"So sad." Riley shook her head. "Those poor kids never see their mother. Make her work on her days off too!"

"Well someone has to go see if the people are dead." Farkle sighed.

"Well, I think I'll take Lena's advice and turn it on. Maybe if we find out where it is, it will explain why Maya is even more late. Maybe it's traffic." Riley flicked the TV on and sat down next to Farkle.

"Shooting down on thirty-third," the TV loudly announced.

"That's closer than I thought." Riley murmured and watched more closely.

"Killed a total of five people, including himself, shot at one, but missed and she is currently being transported to the hospital. Her name is not yet being released to the public."

"A witness." Riley sighed. "At least there's her."

"Is that your phone?" Farkle pointed to Riley's phone that was lighting up and buzzing on the counter.

"Probably Maya." Riley got up and went to answer it. "Maya I can't believe you-"

"Is this Riley Minkus?" a deep voice asked calmly.

"This is she." Riley's voice raised an octave. "Who is this?"

"This is Mark Danvers down at New York Presbyterian Hospital. We wanted to inform you that a friend of yours, Maya Hart, has been in a serious shooting tonight and that you, being listed as her emergency contact, are asked to come down here as soon as possible to fill out paperwork."

"Wait, the shooting that's on the news?!" Riley cried.

"Yes."

"Maya was there?!" Riley could feel tears coming.

"She was. She's about to go into surgery to remove a bullet from her shoulder. Your presence would be appreciated."

"She was the witness!" Riley cried and burst into tears.

"She was the witness!" Farkle heard Riley cry and watched her crumble to the floor. Farkle ran to her and took the phone.

"Maya Hart was the witness involved in the shooting tonight?" he asked as calmly as he could.

"I'm sorry, who is this?" a deep voice replied.

"Farkle Minkus, Riley's husband."

"You should get down to the hospital. Maya is going into surgery to have a bullet removed from-"

"We're coming." Farkle's voice was steely cold. "Where are we going?"

"Emergency entrance."

"Expect us in five minutes."

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Riley woke up two hours later, hungry and stiff from sleeping on Farkle's shoulder. Except now she was laying on the full length of the couch and Farkle was nowhere to be seen. Katy was asleep sitting up in the chair by Maya's bed. Riley sat up slowly and stretched, then got up and looked at Maya. Still sleeping, but for some reason, maybe just her imagination, but Riley thought her face looked a little less pale.

"Awake?" Farkle materialized next to her.

"Sleep walking." Riley joked in a cold voice.

"You look like it. I should take you home." He sighed and wrapped his arms around her.

"But you won't because you know that wouldn't be right."

"I know." Farkle agreed. "When do you think she'll wake up?" Farkle asked and Katy began to stir. She turned around and looked up at us and spoke in raspy, half-awake voice.

"I bet you she'll wake up within the next two hours, seriously sore, seriously confused, and seriously ready to go home.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The whirring sounds of the IV machines mixed with the smells of sterilizer and latex. Maya was sick of both the senses. Even though her eyelids were resting gently over her eyes, it still felt like the light was pounding, trying to penetrate her skull. She took deep breaths, the waves of nausea that rolled through her body a now constant enemy.

"Miss Hart?" the deep voice reminded her that she was not alone, and that she had things to do.

"Sorry." She licked her lips and cracked her eyes open to squint at the two police officers that were standing at the foot of her bed. Well one was standing, the other was in the chair at the head of the bed, notepad and pencil at the ready. "What was the question?"

"You were telling us what the homeless man looked like." They reminded her.

"I told you everything I remember." She stated and closed her eyes again. She heard one of them sigh and shut the notepad. A wave of frustration gnawed at her bones. How inconsiderate could they be?! She had only been out of surgery for four hours and they expected her to be on her game? She could barely remember what street she lived on! What on earth did they expect from her?!

"Miss Hart, we know you're trying to recover. We're leaving our card with your mother. Contact us if you remember anything else." She heard them rustle their way out of her room, leaving her again with her new best friend, the machines and sterilizer scents. Joy.

"Our card." The cops handed Katy a small card, one corner wrinkled, with the department name and two phone numbers recorded on it.

"She wasn't helpful?" Katy asked in concern.

"She's tired. We understand."

"I'm sure she'll be able to give you more details in a while. The sedative is still wearing off." Katy ran a dry hand through her hair. She needed a shower.

"Tell her to take it easy, Ma'am. We don't want to rush her. Things like this happen every day. We just need her statement as a witness and then we'll wrap up the file, that's all."

"I'll call as soon as she feels up to it." Katy promised as the men excused themselves and headed for the elevators. Riley nodded to them as they passed. She had taken the time the cops wanted to be alone with Maya to walk down to the food court and get herself some lunch. She had munched on a turkey sandwich and brought back a cup of apple juice to sip while she sat with Maya for the rest of the day.

"How was it?" Riley asked Katy as she stopped outside of Maya's room.

"She's really out of it." Katy sighed and nudged Riley into the room. "I hope they'll send her home soon. I can tell she hates it here."

"Juice?" Maya asked hopefully as she saw Riley step into the room with the bottle of apple juice.

"Maya, you can't have it, remember?" Riley sighed and sat down on the couch next to the window. Maya huffed in frustration and crossed her arms.

"I don't see how drinking apple juice could cause problems." She grumbled.

"Your immune system is weak. No outside ingestions." Riley reminded her of the doctor's strict orders.

"Get me out of here!" Maya let out the words in a breathy cry and began to finger the blankets covering her legs. "They patched up my shoulder, just a little blood, and now all I want to do is be at home in my bed."

"I know." Riley sighed and opened her crossword book to a new puzzle. "We want that for you too."

"Psh, whatever." Maya grumbled and stared blankly at the wall opposite of her. Riley sat in silence at the end of Maya's bed, both of them lost in thought.

"Farkle will be here as soon as he gets off work." Riley spoke up as soon as she remembered. "He told me to tell you."

"Ok." Maya replied sullenly.

"Maya, what's bothering you?"

"Just my shoulder hurts." Maya lied. Of course that was bothering her, but what was really upsetting her was the constant sound of click of the gun that played over and over in her mind. She had a feeling it might never go away. Was it really only a few hours ago it had happened? She had been talking to that lady and the homeless man? She hadn't even seen it coming….

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"Why won't you just come stay with me?" Riley pleaded for the hundredth time that day. Maya had suffered through one more night in the hospital before she gave her finishing statement to the police and was discharged to her apartment with strict orders to take it easy and a long list of pain meds. Farkle had already gone out to pick them up and Riley had driven Maya home. Katy was picking up groceries for dinner that night at Maya's apartment.

"Riles, I'm fine. Just a little sore. No offense, but you're couch isn't the most comfy place ever." Maya sighed as she set her stuff down in her favorite chair by the huge windows overlooking the street and made her way to her bedroom.

"I keep bugging Farkle about moving. We really need a guest room. Especially for situations like this." Riley mumbled to herself.

"I'm fine here." Maya replied as she heard Riley setting up vases all around the main living spaces. "Put a vase in the bathroom, will ya? Could use some cheering up."

"On it!" Riley hollered back. Maya took a deep breath as she looked at her room, just the way she had left it as she had been jamming her coat back on her arms to race to Riley's for dinner. Blinds drawn, few articles of clothing on the floor, throw pillows on top of the laundry basket, but bed made. Riley must have been here while Maya was still in the hospital. Maya sank carefully down onto her bed, her entire body still aching in almost every place.

"I tried to tidy up here yesterday." Riley announced as she stepped into the room. "But I was in a hurry."

"It's great." Maya smiled and nodded her thanks. Riley nodded, then huffed and crossed her arms.

"I'm staying here tonight."

"Riles!" Maya laughed in disbelief. "What do you think will happen? It's just a few bruises! You don't have to worry. I already promised you no work for the rest of the week, and you can come right over tomorrow if you want. Just, Farkle needs his wifey home to take care of him. And I don't want you neglecting anything else."

"Maya, you have no idea how much you scared me! I think I have the right to be a little nervous at first." Riley frowned. Maya sighed and knew she was right. She had scared a lot of people, her coworkers, friends, family, the list went on. She knew that she should just humor Riley cause it was her way of coping, but Maya's way of coping was being left alone. Especially in that last few years when she had gotten used to living alone and at least having some alone time, especially in her own apartment. Which was now being invaded by everyone.

"Riley, please understand that I would just like a night to myself." Maya muttered, afraid that she'd hurt Riley's feelings but not afraid enough to keep the words to herself.

"I get it." Riley sighed and sank down onto the bed next to Maya. "But…you won't get scared?" she whispered.

"Riles, if I don't start spending nights by myself now, I'll be stuck spending nights with you and Farkle for the rest of my life. There's no reason to be afraid." Maya's words sounded forced even to herself. Riley looked at her doubtfully.

"Well if that's what you really want…" Riley stood up slowly, the bed sheets crinkling crisply, fresh from a wash that Riley had given them the night before. "Anything else you need before I head out?"

"One thing." Maya smiled as Riley turned around. "Bring me some brunch tomorrow?"

"Of course." Riley giggled quietly. "So remember: all your medicines are on the kitchen counter. The paper that tells you what each is for and how much you can take is on the table by the door. Hot water bottle is by the meds. If anything wakes you up, if you get scared, or it hurts, call me."

"Riles, it always hurts. If I called you whenever my shoulder hurts you wouldn't leave." Maya chuckled drily.

"You know what I mean." Riley rolled her eyes. "Farkle and I both have a key so if we call and you don't answer in the morning, we're breaking in."

"Ok, ok I get it. You're worried and you two have my back. So does my mom and Shawn. They'll be here in a heartbeat if I call."

"I know, just…call me first, ok?" Riley sighed and shouldered her purse and fiddled with her keys. "Are you gonna try to take a shower tonight?"

"Better not." Maya eyed her shoulder warily. "I haven't really read up on how to shower without getting it wet. I think I'll just focus on sleep."

"Well then make sure you take one tomorrow. You don't smell too great."

"Well, considering I'm alive, I think it's ok." Maya retorted.

"See! When you say things like that you make me want to never leave you for fear you might just walk off a bridge or something!" Riley cried.

"At the rate you're leaving, I'll never get any sleep."

"I'm going, I'm going." Riley held up her hands and retreated to the bedroom door. "And if you bleed through the gauze, call then too."

"Yes yes, for Pete's sake and all that is holy just get out of my apartment!" Maya called from the bed in a half-exasperated, half-amused tone.

"Good night, take care of yourself, I'll be here at nine tomorrow." Riley called.

"Night!" Maya called back. She heard the front door shut and the lock click as Riley locked it with her key. The silence crept in.

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"No!" Maya sat up on the final screaming note, sweaty and panting. Her bed sheets were all on the floor and her shoulder was burning. She looked around the room. All the lights were still on and she could hear the sound of her Mozart track playing out in the living room. She looked at the clock. 3 am. So she had had a nightmare. She sighed in frustration as she mopped her hair back from her face and her pulse began to return to normal. The meds hadn't lasted long enough to keep her in such deep sleep. She needed more.

"Come on, Maya. Get up." She encouraged herself. She grunted in pain as she heaved herself off the bed and shuffled over the comforter that was splayed on the floor in a pile of wrinkles. She found her slippers by the bedroom door and crammed her feet into them. She groaned as she stepped into the main space. Her shoulder killed.

"Pain meds, pain meds." She mumbled over and over as she clattered bunches of pill bottles across the counter, trying to find one that might help. She grasped a bottle that read 'take one tablet by mouth every three hours or according to level of pain'. Yep. She had found a winner. She didn't even bother with water. She popped the pill into her mouth and took it dry. After the pill went down, she thought that perhaps she should have read the paper the doctor had given her first. Oh well. She shrugged, then cursed at the pain of shrugging. The drowsiness wouldn't come right away, so she reheated a mug of tea Riley had left on the counter and curled up in her favorite chair by the big windows overlooking her street. The night life in New York was never boring, and she had never found it intimidating. But for some reason, tonight she felt afraid as she watched cars move and stoplights change and people hurrying and hobos begging. Who all really knew what might happen in the very next moment? She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Nothing made sense at the moment. It had made sense a moment ago. Maybe more tea would help. She tried to stand up, but only made it to the couch before a dizzy spell caught her. She sank to the couch and before another thought could cross her mind, she was out.

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"The hot water is running. Bath time." Were the first words that Maya remembered hearing. Riley was standing over her as Maya blinked the vision into view. She felt cold and extremely exhausted. "Well look who is finally awake. Farkle and I were getting worried you might be dead."

"I think I was." Maya grumbled as Riley helped her sit up.

"Why on earth were you out here?" Riley asked as Maya rubbed her eyes vehemently.

"Where?"

"Asleep like death. On the couch." Riley pointed to all the knocked over pill bottles on the counter. "I told you to read the paper before you took anything!"

"I knew what it was." Maya waved Riley away as she stood up and rolled her shoulder before thinking. The pain was intense. Riley grimaced as she watched Maya shudder in pain.

"What time did you wake up?" Riley asked in a softer tone as she led Maya to the bedroom suite bathroom.

"Sometime around three I think." Maya sighed. "I barely remember. All I remember is taking something and then thinking that I was gonna die right there on the couch."

"Why did you call?!" Riley growled.

"I fell asleep before I could think of that." Maya snickered as she began to shed her clothes on the bath mat. "Wow that bath looks nice." The tub of now still water was steaming, surrounded by all of Maya's favorite soaps and scrubs.

"I started it running when I saw that you would need to sleep that pill off a little more." Riley explained, then looked at Maya more closely. "You did only take one, right?"

"Yes." Maya sighed. "I'm on drugs, not stupid." She tested the water with her bare foot and then nodded her approval. "Scalding hot. Just like I like."

"Whoa whoa." Riley stopped Maya from getting in. "One more thing." Riley held up a plastic garbage bag."

"I'm not gonna puke." Maya frowned.

"That's not the idea." Riley smiled and began to wrap Maya's shoulder gauze in the bag. "You can't get this wet or the stitches won't heal. And you can't go two more weeks without taking a bath. So the doctor told me to wrap it in this."

"Well I look stupid." Maya looked herself over in the mirror.

"This isn't exactly project runway. No one said you have to look good while bathing with a shoulder gauze."

"Touche." Maya sighed and lowered herself into the water. Her eyes closed in contentment. "This is the stuff."

"How long has it been since you've been clean?" Riley double checked.

"Something like five days." Maya wiggled in the water, fluttering her toes. "Never doing that again."

"I'll go make you something to eat." Riley offered. "If you need anything, just holler."

"How about pancakes?" Maya asked.

"Sorry, that's not in the diet the doctor prescribed." Riley shook her head. "I was thinking a nice thin butter supplement on 5-grain toast, with a broiled egg on the side."

"I don't know what any of that is, but it doesn't sound anything like captain crunch." Maya let her head lean back against the edge of the claw-foot tub and sighed.

"Sorry, but that's what you get right now. Trust me, I bet you'll be so hungry you'll think it tastes great."

"Yeah, we'll see."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Please tell me there's something else on." Maya sighed in frustration as she reached for the remote to try to snatch it from Farkle's hands.

"You don't like Animal Planet?" Farkle frowned and turned the volume up.

"No!" Maya growled. "Which is what I've been saying for the past two hours!"

"You two, stop fighting!" Riley called from the kitchen.

"Don't worry, Riley, she can't move anyway." Shawn called. Maya shot Shawn a glare. Katy giggled. Everyone was over at Riley and Farkle's condo having an early dinner and chance to enjoy themselves before Maya started working again.

"I swear I'd bust these stitches just to have one good swing at all of your faces." Maya huffed. "I'm sick of sitting around and watching TV. When will you people understand that I'm fine?"

"When you actually are, Babygirl." Katy stood up and kissed Maya's head affectionately before heading into the kitchen to help Riley finish dinner.

"I married a pretty woman." Shawn spoke up.

"We could hear that!" Riley giggled from the kitchen. "Oooooo!"

"Yeah yeah, grow up." Shawn winked at Maya and for a minute, Maya forgot about how frustrating her past week had been. Not only had she suffered through more sleepless nights, full of nightmares, all the lights on, multiple pills, and screams, she also had busted a few stitches the second day at home trying to reach a glass on an upper shelf. Curse her shortness. So she had been sent back to the doctor to have it fixed, thus prolonging the chance to get the stitches out. And all she could do during the day was stay at her apartment and look out the window or stay at Riley's condo and watch TV. Both options had gotten boring very quickly. She couldn't wait to get back to work. She started the next day and her stitches came out a few days later. She was excited to actually be doing things again.

"Is italian dressing good for everyone's salad?" Riley called to the living room.

"Make mine ranch please." Topanga called back as she finished folding a basket of Riley's laundry. "Since I just did all of your laundry."

"Mom, we're out of ranch." Riley appeared in the kitchen doorway with a fussy look on her face. "And I didn't ask you to do the laundry." She pointed to the basket. "You folded it wrong."

"Jeez." Topanga looked back at Cory who was sitting on one of the couches. "She moves out and all of a sudden we can't even fold her laundry right." Maya snickered as Topanga sat back down next to Cory and agreed that she'd eat the Italian dressing. Riley returned to the kitchen, shaking her head and Cory and Shawn were chuckling.

"How did I live with them for so long?" they heard Riley asking Katy. They continued to laugh.

"So Maya, you'll take it easy tomorrow, first day back on the job?" Cory piped up after Riley's voice faded away.

"Yes yes." Maya nodded. "I've promised all of you already that I'd be careful."

"You said that before you popped the stitches." Shawn reminded.

"How was I supposed to know that reaching into my cupboard would pop the stupid things?" Maya defended herself. "You'd think with the way they stitched it up that they'd pop if I coughed."

"So make sure you don't cough tomorrow." Cory pointed out as Maya rolled her eyes. "Or maybe it would just be better if you didn't breathe."

"That's not really an option, sweetheart." Topanga's hand rested, relaxed, on Cory's shoulder.

"I could try if you want." Maya offered Cory with a smirk on her face.

"Very funny." Cory deadpanned and Maya accepted a gentle high five from Shawn. "Though it would be one of the only times you actually stopped talking." Cory added and Shawn laughed.

"I swear…." Maya hissed, eyes narrowed.

"Dinner!" Riley's holler saved Cory's life as the troop all stood, Shawn helping Maya to her feet and Farkle switching off the TV, and made their way to the dining room table where they all squished around it to eat. Half of the table stuck into the living room due to the size of the condo, but it was cozy and Cory and Topanga joked that it was still better than their first apartment.

"How's work been, Farkle?" Cory passed Farkle the bowl of scallop potatoes and the gang plunged into a nice conversation about Minkus International and Farkle's future plans and his college classes and then onto Riley's book club and neighbors and Lena and her kids and how Riley thought they were just dear kids and then that reminded Maya that she had seen a pregnancy announcement online about Sarah from middle school. Riley squealed happily at this news and made Maya promise that the next time they got together they just had to call Sarah and congratulate her.

"I didn't even know she was married." Cory listened to the news with interest. "Hard to believe any of my students are married, much less having kids." He eyed Riley and Farkle warily. "Which doesn't mean that you two have the ok to try."

"Ew Dad, stop!" Riley cried and waved her hands in disgust. "Don't even go there."

"Just warning you." Cory turned to Farkle.

"I don't think you have to worry, Sir." Farkle chuckled at Riley. "We don't have room."

"And you." Cory turned to Maya and she straightened up. "Don't you go getting married any time soon."

"I second that." Shawn agreed.

"Oh, boys stop." Topanga shushed them.

"As long as she finds someone amazing, I'm happy." Katy smiled at Shawn, and then to Maya.

"And as long as he has a talk with us first." Cory motioned to himself and Shawn. Shawn nodded and rubbed his fist in his palm.

"Oh stop." Maya sighed and rested her forehead in her hands. "Not another boyfriend conversation. I thought we had all agreed to stop this."

"Maya…" Riley began.

"Just because all of you are married now, and I'm in the minority, doesn't mean that you all need to conform me to your ways." Maya joked. She turned to Riley and Farkle. "And come on. I used to have you guys to back me up. But now, you're just as bad as the rest of them. It's like all married people are in a conspiracy to make sure that everyone single finds someone in the time frame that they see fit. Guys, I'm twenty-one. I think I have time."

"Plenty of time!" Cory held up his glass for a toast and Maya laughed and carefully raised her glass to his and the others joined in eventually.

"A toast!" Maya announced. "I, Maya Hart, have plenty of time to find love later, when it doesn't interfere with life. You know what, right now I say 'screw love'! Who needs it?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Cory joked, then immediately took back the words after he caught the stare Topanga was giving him. "To Maya!" he turned back to the glasses and the condo was filling with the light clinking of glass as they all toasted, then withdrew their cups and moved on with the conversation. And Maya once again shoved the thought of love out of her mind.

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"That's your third cup of coffee this morning." The chief frowned down at Lucas Friar as the young adult looked through case files on his desk.

"It's good coffee." Lucas swallowed and licked his lips. "Have you had any?"

"Nice try, Friar." The chief leaned on the edge of Lucas' desk and looked at him. "You've been yawning since you walked in. You know my rules. You can't use caffeine as your crutch to get through the day."

"Sir, you know I've just been a little tired lately because of the whole moving situation." Lucas sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I promise, once the housing is all settled, I'll be back to normal."

"Boy, we all know what you're going through." The chief crossed his arms. "Your mom struggling, you moving back in to take care of her, your dad across seas, trying to pay your bills and so on. We know it's hard. We've all had times like these to get through. So don't think that we've just forgotten how you're battling. We haven't. But we also have a job to do. So you remember that and we'll remember to cut you some slack. And if that means that you have to stop packing a little and get some sleep, then do it. I can't have my guys sleeping on the job."

"Yes, Sir." Lucas coughed as the chief strode away from his desk and he turned back to his paperwork. He was filling out a follow-up form from yesterday's perimeter check of the parks that we're supposedly 'hot spots for drug dealing'.

"Hey Friar, how's your mom?" Cathy appeared next to him, stacks of papers in her arms. He chuckled and held out his morning paper that she always brought around to all the cops that showed up early.

"She's hanging in. She loved the cookies you made for her."

"Good." Cathy beamed. "I love to bake."

"You do it justice." Lucas nodded and glanced briefly down the front page of the regular Austin, Texas newspaper. "Any news on the county split?"

"None so far. The courts have done a good job keeping the whole thing quiet." Cathy was always willing to offer any information she got or found out as a receptionist. Talking was one of her gifts. "Rod promises me that he tells me everything he can, but I don't believe that for a second. He barely speaks two words about it at dinner."

"Rod loving it just as much as us keeping the crowds back?" Lucas asked about Cathy's husband who was on the jury that was hearing the recent court case involving a county that wanted to split due to racial issues.

"Oh poor thing comes home exhausted every night." Cathy shook her head. "But he's a trooper. I'll have some more cookies for your mom tomorrow. Or is the dialysis plan not allowing of any sweets?"

"She can have sweets, just not sure if she'll feel like eating." Lucas explained. "But if she can't eat them, I always can. Send them anyways, if it's not too much trouble."

"Of course it's not." Cathy brushed a piece of lint off his shoulder as she shifted her weight on her feet, preparing to move on to the next cubicle. "They'll be in your box by tomorrow evening."

"You're the best." Lucas handed her the follow-up form for her to spell-check. She took it gracefully and slid it onto the top of her massive stack. "Need any help?"

"I do this for a living, remember?" she called as she left his work space. He chuckled and frowned at his empty coffee cup. Another cup drained. Maybe he wasn't getting enough sleep. Lucas clicked open his emails and saw a new one from Zay. He smiled and opened it. It was about Sarah's announcement of engagement. Zay kept up with all their old friends from school, something Lucas hardly seemed to have the time for anymore. Though he still saw Zay at least three times a week when Vanessa made him dinner. Lucas scanned over the email, reading the details of Sarah's life in New York since they had all graduated. The guy wasn't anyone he knew, but the picture of the two of them was a good one and Lucas nodded his approval. She looked happy. Just like Riley and Farkle in their wedding picture that was tacked to his bulletin board hanging on the cubicle wall. It was the most recent picture he had seen of them since his schedule didn't allow time for social media. They had been married for about a year now as he recalled and Zay said that Riley posted everything on Facebook. He hadn't heard anything from Maya since the wedding. But he wasn't surprised. Maya was probably the busiest of them all. Her life had taken off. He felt like he was still waiting for his life to move at all.

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"Lunch sounds amazing." Maya nodded in consent in response to her coworker's offer of a lunch date to a food cart for a quick bite. "Thanks John."

"It's been nice seeing your face around here again." John added as Maya grabbed her coat off her chair and they headed for the elevators. "It wasn't the same without your humor."

"I missed it too." Maya admitted. "Though the break was probably much needed."

"Yeah I could see that being the case." John nodded. The two stepped into the elevators and began their descent to the ground floor of the building.

"Thanks again for the coffee this morning." Maya added.

"My pleasure." John smiled. "I knew you were coming back today and also knew that caffeine is your favorite. Specifically when it's mixed with peppermint."

"Sounds right." Maya giggled and the doors opened to let them into the lobby. The big glass windows let in the light of the day, the cloud cover breaking every now and then to let in bits of sun. People mulled around the giant space, people who worked in other offices there, people who were on lunch break like her, and people who were waiting for appointments or dates or really anything. Her shoulder had begun to ache like none other about an hour before and she took a day pain killer. She felt completely numb below her neck. It was kind of cool. She loved not feeling the pain for a few hours. She originally had not planned to go out to lunch, but since she no longer felt the aching in her shoulder, she had decided to indulge her hunger.

"Anna." John stopped them at the receptionists' desks and handed the receptionist for their office a sticky note. "Our copier up there is broken. Call to have it fixed?"

"On it." She nodded brightly and waved to Maya. "Good to have you back."

"Thanks." Maya was getting seriously sick of all the attention.

"Well, we're off to lunch." John told Anna. "See ya in a few."

"Bye." Anna waved them off and waved the next person waiting forward to help them. Maya brushed some hair out of her face and made sure her jacket was buttoned up as they reached the big glass doors.

"After you." John reached to open one of the doors just as the glass panel beside them exploded. A shriek erupted behind Maya and she felt her body slammed to the floor. Her eyes fluttered open and she realized they had been squeezed shut. She was staring at the ceiling. She heard the squeal of tires and footsteps. Her hands were balled into fists and she felt her shoulder beginning to burn through her medicine. This could not be good.

"John?" Maya called, the screams and murmurs of people fading into background noise. "Anna?" She waited for someone to come tell her that she had been dreaming. She waited for someone to come tell her it was ok to get up.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"Maya!" Riley shrieked as she saw the shock of blonde hair among the crowd of bystanders and intimidated people. Police were swarming the area and piles of shattered glass were taped off, everyone being escorted from the building to cars or other buildings. This was now the scene of a crime. "Maya!" Riley cried again as she reached the ambulance and pushed past the officer that tried hold her back.

"Riley!" Maya cried back and tried to get up, but the medic shook his head and Maya stayed as the man continued to examine her injuries.

"Maya, thank God you're ok!" Riley sobbed as she reached Maya and pulled her into her arms. Maya let out shaky breaths onto Riley's shoulder as the paramedic separated them. "Are you ok? What happened?"

"I'm not sure." Maya breathed, her eyes still hazy. "I'm still not sure. One minute I was leaving for lunch and the next thing I know I'm lying in a pile of glass."

"Oh Maya." Riley sighed and looked at the blood streaks that ran the length of Maya's face and legs. "Glass?"

"It'll heal." The paramedic spoke up. "We're taking her in just as a precaution."

"So I still have to go?" Maya looked at the paramedic with a frown.

"Afraid so, Miss." He nodded and went to get the papers for her to sign.

"I called your mom; she's on her way." Riley told Maya after the paramedic went around to the other side of the ambulance.

"Thanks." Maya nodded. Riley took Maya's hand gently and rubbed warmth into the cold fingers. Riley tried not to cry hard, but this was the second time in two weeks that she had thought she lost her best friend.

"Your shoulder." Riley remembered.

"The stitches are fine." Maya sounded relieved and Riley smiled at that.

"Oh good." She relaxed a little.

"Excuse me, Miss Hart," a police officer stepped past the barrier holding back the camera crews and walked up to her, "is this young lady authorized to be here?"

"This is Riley Minkus, my emergency contact." Maya nodded. "My mom is on her way."

"Miss, we need to clear you before you cross the barrier." The cop turned to Riley, disapproval written clearly on his face. Riley suddenly felt afraid.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Riley mumbled an apology.

"We're ready." The paramedic came back around the ambulance and handed Maya two papers to sign. She quickly did and the paramedic slapped the side of the ambulance to let the driver know to start the engine.

"Miss." The cop caught Riley's arm as she tried to climb into the ambulance next to Maya. "I'm afraid you can't do that."

"What do you mean?" Riley couldn't believe this. "I'm like family. I was cleared when I was put on the insurance card. I can ride with her."

"No, you can't." the cop shook his head. "We have strict orders not to clear anyone until we recheck their information."

"Fine then check the information fast so I can go with my friend who just suffered a near-death experience to the hospital!" Riley stamped her foot on the ground and Maya almost laughed at the tantrum she was throwing. Almost.

"We understand your concern, but-"

"No, I don't think you do!" Riley cut the cop off. "I'm not a reporter, I'm not with a TV station, I'm not looking for details or a story. I'm here to help my best friend. So you don't need to worry." The cop looked around in frustration. Then he grabbed his walkie talkie.

"Ten-four, Adams will be escorting victim ambulance one to the hospital. Background check on Riley Minkus, stat." then he climbed into the ambulance after Riley. The doors were shut behind them and the ambulance pulled out.

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"Nothing broken, a few bruises maybe, some deep scratches, a bit of blood loss, but nothing serious." The doctor confirmed to Riley, Maya, Katy, and Shawn in a simple hospital examination room. "You can get dressed again, ma'am and the receptionist on this floor will have your discharge papers."

"Thank you." Maya nodded calmly.

"Go easy on those stitches." The doctor reminded, then excused himself. After he was gone, Maya nudged Shawn out of the room so she could change into the clothes that Katy had brought. As she wiggled her legs into the fuzzy sweatpants, her mom pulled her hair into a bun for her.

"You'll need to wash the blood out of your hair as soon as you get home." Katy told Maya.

"K." Maya nodded quietly. "Where did Shawn go?" Maya asked when she called and he didn't come back in.

"Get you some coffee." Katy winked. "Even though they said no caffeine, I think you need some."

"You're the best, Mom." Maya sighed and leaned her head on Katy's shoulder. The three girls left the room and followed the signs back to the small waiting room of that sector of the hospital. Before they stepped out of the staff area, Maya and Riley and Katy stopped and signed the discharge paperwork.

"Miss Hart?" three officers were in the waiting room and as soon as Maya stepped out, they all stood.

"Yes?" Maya asked quietly, seeing all gazes in the room float to her.

"What's this about?" Katy put a protective hand on Maya's shoulder.

"I'm afraid we'll have to take you down to the station and get a statement." One of the officers spoke.

"Absolutely not!" Katy cried. "This girl is going home and going to bed!"

"Ma'am, that wasn't a suggestion. It was an order."

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"So how many times do you think I've told the story of my near-death experience this time?" Maya growled as the cops that had been questioning her for the past forty minutes excused themselves.

"It's just their job, Babygirl. Don't get mad at them." Katy sighed and began to collect her purse and coat. "We can leave now, right?"

"Yeah." Maya nodded and slowly stood, her body aching as she moved. Maybe she should call in and get work off tomorrow. Her boss had called and offered the rest of the week off, but Maya had turned her down immediately. She had to stay on top of everything. But the more she moved, the more she thought she might need to reconsider the whole 'going to work tomorrow' idea.

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"No." Maya shook her head. "Not happening, Riles. I told you, I'm fine home alone." But even while she was led into Riley's condo, she was extremely grateful that she didn't have to return to her cold and dark flat that night.

"I'm done with your heroics." Riley dropped her keys on the coffee table by the door and hung her purse on a hook. "If not for you, then do it for me. I'll sleep a lot better tonight knowing you're with us."

"I'm doing it for me too." Maya admitted and Riley gave her a knowing look. Both girls had been more frightened by the last few days than they cared to admit.

"Ladies!" Farkle announced as he popped into the main room. Maya jumped, startled. She had been on edge ever since they left the station. Riley saw the pained look on Maya's face out of the corner of her eye. "I ordered Thai tonight for everyone." Farkle slid his arm around Riley's waist. "I hope that sounds good."

"Sounds great." Riley nodded then looked over at Maya. "Hungry?"

"Starved." Maya said and looked eagerly towards the kitchen.

"It should be here in less than twenty minutes." Farkle offered. Maya sighed in disappointment. "But I made sure to order you your Pad Ka Pow." Farkle piped up and Maya's eyes sparkled.

"Perfect." She nodded. Riley kissed Farkle lightly on the cheek and detached herself from his arms.

"I gotta make Maya's bed." Riley reminded and headed towards the hall closet.

"Riles, I can do that." Maya followed her.

"Don't be silly, your shoulder is still killing you, I'm not blind. Plus, you're a guest and I like to do things."

"At least let me get the pillows." Maya bargained.

"Deal." Riley handed her two fluffy pillows from the cupboard and two pillowcases to go with them. Maya began to slide them on.

"Hey, thanks for letting me stay." Maya whispered thickly as the two were hidden from Farkle. "I know I've been a bit of a burden these past few days."

"Maya, don't even start. It's not a burden. It's my privilege." Riley scolded as she slowly shut the cupboards. "And the truth is, I can't let something like that happen to you again or I might just lose it. When I keep getting these phone calls, my heart stops. It's not healthy."

"Yeah, well I'm sorry about that."

"Can't be helped."

"I'm so relieved that I don't have to go stay alone in my flat tonight." Maya breathed and Riley paused and looked at Maya.

"I thought you weren't that worried about it." Riley swallowed.

"Riles, if I'm being completely honest, today, when I was laying there, I thought I was going to die."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"Morning." Maya's assistant popped her head into Maya's office. "Delivery."

"My coffee?" Maya asked hopefully.

"Your coffee, pain-killers, and a doughnut." Kate announced proudly and set the paper bag she had been holding on Maya's desk. "I thought you might be needing the sugar."

"Perfect." Maya nodded and fingered the bag before looking back to Kate. "Did you see your to-do list on your desk?"

"It was tacked to my board." Kate corrected.

"Right." Maya squinted. "That's what I meant."

"Then yes." Kate nodded. "I'll get started then. Anything else you need?"

"My meetings with clients have all been rescheduled for next week, right?" Maya clarified.

"Correct." Kate explained, "This week is just for you to catch up, what with everything that's happened."

"Yeah, got it." Maya waved Kate out and the girl went dutifully. Maya had already been through three assistants in the past six months. No one seemed to be able to handle her grumpy, impatient, and introverted attitude, and so far she couldn't see Kate lasting more than two more weeks. But the girl was trying her best and Maya had to admire that. Maya eyed the paper bag hungrily. Kate had definitely scored big with today's perks. Maya reached for the bag and examined the contents. She brushed aside the bottle of pain-killers for later, and reached for her coffee and doughnut. Jelly-filled by the looks of it. She frowned. She didn't like the filled doughnuts as much.

"Maybell on line 4!" someone knocked on her wall and Maya set her breakfast down on her desk hurriedly and picked up the phone for line four.

"Maybell?" Maya answered.

"I was looking over the new set of designs you sent for property sector five and they don't make sense. According to these plans, a whole new building has been added to the property. Did we add that?"

"Whoa whoa, slow down." Maya sighed and put a hand to her forehead. Maybell was her partner for her current design project. "Sector five?" Maya went to her flipboard across the room and looked for the plans. "Ok, I see the problem."

"Is it me, or is there a mistake?" Maybell asked loudly.

"My bad. It was a mistake." Maya sighed in exasperation. "I'll have the right plans on your desk by this evening."

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"Tim." Lucas smiled as soon as he answered the call. "Tim Adams, is that you? You're soundin pretty good."

"Lucas Friar, the one and only." Tim chuckled over the line. "You don't sound a bit different."

"I guess I'll take it." Lucas propped his feet up on his cluttered desk and adjusted the phone to get more comfortable. "To what do I owe this unexpected but pleasant call?"

"I'd like to say that I called because I'm a good friend." Tim began.

"You mean you didn't call just to catch up?" Lucas was not surprised, but not offended either. Every cop knew what came with the job. Friends were friends no matter what. He and Tim had been great friends in the police academy together, but when they graduated, Tim stayed in New York and Lucas returned to Texas.

"Unfortunately, no." Tim sighed and Lucas could hear the sound of papers shuffling. "I need some advice."

"Shoot." Lucas offered and opened up the opportunity for Tim to share a problem. That was what friends did.

"I've got a new case actually. In fact, you might have heard something about it."

"I doubt it," Lucas replied quickly, "I'm either here at the station bent over paperwork or with Mom at the house."

"Your Mom," Tim breathed, "I forgot to ask. I really am sorry. How is she?"

"She's battling." Lucas tried not to let the emotion get through to his business. "But anyway, we'll have time for that later. Your case?"

"Yeah." Tim stretched and continued. "There was a shooting a couple of weeks ago here."

"What's new?" Lucas laughed dryly. "So New York hasn't changed that much since I left."

"I thought the same thing at first. It was a cut and dried case." Tim's voice was not light. Lucas refocused himself. "The shooter killed himself and a few others down in a subway station late in the evening. We checked the cameras, we took statements-"

"Statements?" Lucas interrupted. "I thought you said he killed the people that were there."

"He thought he did." Tim swallowed. "One survived. There's a witness."

"I think I know where you're going with this." Lucas breathed in sharply when he heard the news.

"Try me."

"Can I guess that an attempt was made on their life again in the past two weeks?" Lucas guessed.

"Bingo."

"So not as cut and dried as you thought."

"I'm thinking not." Tim agreed. "But everyone else at the station seems to think it was just a coincidence."

"A coincidence?" Lucas scoffed. "I doubt that."

"You'd doubt it even more once you heard the evidence."

"I bet."

"Anyway, cop to cop, friend to friend, I was wondering if you'd give me some advice. I know the department, specifically the boss wants me to declare the case an accident and close it, if not just for the sake of department funds. We can't afford to be chasing every little thing that pops up. But I think there might be something worth looking into. But I'd be putting funds, energy, and my job on the line. What do I do, Buddy?" Tim sounded so distraught. Lucas guessed Tim had a really big feeling about this case.

"You sound involved." Lucas said.

"I was first on the seen at the second shooting. She was lying in a pile of glass, cut to ribbons."

"She." Lucas sighed and kicked his feet off the desk. "Oh God."

"As a protector of the people, isn't it my job to make sure she's safe?" Tim asked.

"It most certainly is." Lucas nodded even though Tim couldn't see him. "Follow that case, Tim, even for just a few more days. Something might come up that changes everything."

"Well, funny you should mention that…" Tim's voice was meek suddenly.

"You found something?" Lucas sat up a bit straighter.

"As a matter of fact, I did. I was researching the girl a bit, looking into any past mistakes that might have gotten her into this mess. And I think I found something."

"Really?" Lucas was interested in spite of himself. "Like what?"

"Tell me, Friar, did you ever know a girl named Maya Hart?" Lucas froze. No. Why would he ask that question unless….

"Don't tell me she's-"

"Yeah." Tim sighed. "I had a feeling you knew her. I hate to break it to you Lucas, but she's the witness." Lucas put the phone down instantly and rubbed his hands over his face, stood, then sat. He didn't know what to do with himself. He picked the phone up again.

"How did you connect me with her?" Lucas asked stiffly.

"High school newspaper article." Tim elaborated. "I thought I recognized you in the picture with her. Were you guys close?" the pause in the conversation was palatable. Neither man spoke. Lucas sucked in a harsh breath.

"Yeah." His eyes traveled to the picture of Maya he had tacked to his bulletin board. "We were pretty close."

00000000000000000000000000000000

"I don't understand." Riley shook her head as she pulled her car into her reserved parking spot at the condo. "I thought you liked the color orange."

"Yeah, on traffic cones." Maya giggled. "Even maybe on a cute shirt. But definitely not for bridesmaid dresses."

"I think it would make it unique." Riley countered as the two girls got out of the car and walked up to the door.

"Unique is a word people use when they don't want to say ugly." Maya sang. Before the girls could walk inside, Maya caught sight of a child watching her from a doorway, two doors down.

"One of Lena's kids." Riley murmured under her breath and Maya nodded knowingly. Riley had told her about the struggling paramedic mother and her children. Maya sympathized with their story and their battles.

"What's her name?" Maya whispered back to Riley quickly.

"Kisha." Riley offered. "I'm gonna go set my purse down." And she disappeared into the condo.

"Hello, Kisha." Maya spoke up and walked down the concrete path to the girl. "How are you today?"

"My mom says you almost died." The girl spoke up and straightened herself as Maya approached. Maya flinched a bit, but tried not to show her internal upset. "She says she saved you."

"Well she did." Maya nodded. "She saved my life. She saves a lot of lives. You are very lucky to have a mother like her." Maya reached the girl and crouched down to be on her level. "Is she at work right now?"

"Yes." The girl nodded.

"Would you like to come back to Riley's house to eat something?" Maya saw the hunger in the girl's eyes. She remembered what it was like to feel hungry as a kid.

"Mom told us to stay inside today." Kisha explained while shaking her head. Maya nodded to this and was about to stand up when she remembered something. She reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out the brown paper sack which still had the doughnut in it. She had never gotten around to eating it.

"Here, sweetie." Maya gave the girl the bag. "I hope you like doughnuts?" Kisha nodded vigorously and Maya smiled. "I hope it's still good."

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Farkle was about to doze off when he heard the commotion. Riley was already asleep, her bedside light off and her glasses on her table. Her hair was messed up and her head was pressed ferociously into the pillow and she was snoring. But even with her snoring, Farkle could still hear the sirens outside the condos and the footsteps that ran the lengths of the outer halls. He didn't want to wake Riley, but he was beginning to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He slid out of bed, careful not to disturb the covers and slipped his shoes on. He wrapped his bathrobe around himself, his pajama pants keeping his legs warm. He pattered through the kitchen and the living room to the front door.

He was glad that Maya was no longer staying with them. She let her stuff go everywhere, the couch, the chairs, even draped over the TV. He was pleased to see a clean living room as he wandered through. He opened the door and peered out. The lights blinded him. A group of people was standing outside Lena's apartment, but Lena was nowhere in sight. A firetruck and two police cars were parked haphazardly in the condo parking lot. Farkle knew something was seriously wrong.

"Excuse me?" Farkle shut the door behind him and a few faces from the group looked up.

"Sir, please go back into your house." One of the men stepped towards him and held his hands up.

"What's going on?" Farkle frowned. He didn't like being told what to do without the reason being explained.

"We are not at liberty to disclose anything at the moment. All we ask is that you return to bed and your questions will be answered later."

"Well I am Lena's neighbor. If her kids are in there, my wife and I are legally responsible to take them back to our place and take care of them. It's in her will." Farkle bristled. The man straightened a little and his face seemed to soften a bit.

"I'm sorry, sir." The man apologized. "Her children were sent down to the station. We thought that was best. If we had known you were here…."

"To the station?" Farkle was shocked. "What on earth happened?"

"It appears that your neighbor's child contracted a sort of virus. Very deadly. They are at the hospital right now."

"Virus?" Farkle breathed. He noticed the uniform the man was wearing. He was a cop. "Lena is a paramedic. Her children are extremely healthy."

"It can happen to anyone." The cop sighed and accepted a clipboard that was passed to him. "Look, maybe you can go down to the hospital if you're really concerned. I don't know if she'll let you in, but there might be some good news. I'm just here for damage control and to seal off the area."

"Are we going to have to evacuate?" Farkle asked, a whole new idea occurring to him.

"My advisor has decided that it is safe for the rest of the residents to remain in their homes." The officer explained. "None of the other family members were ill, proving that the virus is not contagious. But no one is allowed in the condo without strict government approval. Clear?"

"Crystal." Farkle nodded. "Could you tell me which hospital they're at?"

"Hopkins."

"Do you know which child it was?" Farkle almost didn't want to hear. The man looked down at his clipboard and located the information he was looking for.

"Kisha?" he offered.

"Not Kisha." Farkle sighed and put his hand to his head.

"Farkle?" a small voice made Farkle turn and the cop look up. Riley stood in the doorway of her condo, hair frizzy, eyes squinted, and her face a sickly shade of green. "I don't feel well."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Farkle didn't know what to think as he rode with Riley to the hospital. The ambulance was bright and she was on flat on her back with an oxygen mask strapped to her face. The medics calmly went about their checklists, checking her vitals and talking to her. Farkle just held her hand and nodded encouragement to her. She mostly kept her eyes shut and was lying still. That is, until they got to the hospital. As soon as they parked the ambulance in front of the emergency entrance, unstrapped the mask from her face, and began to unload her, she heaved up her dinner without warning.

No one knew what was happening. They rushed her into a curtained off section, got her a basin to hold to her face, hooked her up to an IV that was supposed to help with nausea and ran off to find a doctor.

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"She's doing better?" Maya asked as Farkle stepped out into the waiting room. He looked exhausted, his face sagging with worry.

"Yeah." Farkle nodded quietly. "They're going to send her home soon. They ran tests. It's not the same thing as Kisha."

"Thank God." Maya breathed and grabbed Farkle's hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. His fingers were icy cold. "You need something to eat."

"I'll figure something out." He waved the idea off. Maya sighed in frustration. Farkle didn't understand that he was no help to Riley if he was starving.

"Here." Maya reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out a bag of crackers that she bought from a vending machine earlier that day. "I brought these for you." That was a total lie. She had been planning on eating them all day, but now that she saw that Farkle would never end up eating until Riley did, Maya decided to sacrifice her food for the good of her friend.

"Thanks." Farkle took the bag and Maya saw the gratefulness in his eyes. "Have you heard anything about Kisha?" Farkle asked as the two of them stepped out of the waiting room and into one of the main hallways.

"The news is all over it." Maya sighed. "People are freaking out, thinking your guys' condos are infected or something."

"Please tell me they don't know about Riley too."

"Haven't heard anything about her yet." Maya assured him. He sighed in relief. The last thing he wanted was for Riley to be involved with the press at a time like this.

"Have you seen Kisha?" Farkle asked.

"I checked with the receptionist," Maya explained, "but it was hard to get to her through all the reporters and people. They won't give any information on her." Maya put a hand to her head. "I'm not going to sit down until they figure out what's wrong with Riley." As soon as the words came out of Maya's mouth, a nurse stepped out into the hall and made eye contact with the two.

"Are you Riley's husband?" the nurse asked as Farkle looked up.

"Yes." Farkle nodded. "And this is a family friend, Maya Hart."

"I think we found something you should hear about." The nurse had a strange look on her face. Farkle watched as Maya's entire body stiffened up. "She's recovering well," the nurse added as she saw the worried expression on Maya's face, "just we found something when we were running tests that might explain this whole thing."

"Like what?" Maya and Farkle followed the nurse back into the care unit and down a hallway and into a small room.

"Here's the folder," the nurse handed Farkle the file. "In order to make sure that Riley hadn't contracted the same virus as Kisha, we had to run a number of blood tests and do a few scans. The doctors upstairs are still working to find out exactly what is wrong with Kisha. However, with Riley, we located the problem fairly quickly. Her blood mass was much higher than normal and her white blood cell count is extremely higher than Kisha's or even the average person of her size and shape."

"What does that mean?" Farkle asked as he flipped through the pages in the file.

"Well, since she's already doing so much better and Kisha is still under intense care, we decided to assume that Riley had not contracted a virus. So then we just went about examining her without the prospect of a virus." The nurse disposed of her latex gloves efficiently and began to rub some sanitizer into her palms. "We gave her some strong medicine for the nausea and she responded well to it. And that's when we solved the issue."

"What issue?" Maya was getting tired of listening to all these things she didn't understand.

"Well you see, in order to treat certain patients with severe nausea, we sometimes give specific women a medication that we usually reserve for pre-natal purposes. And due to Riley's allergy to a common element used in most other nausea drugs, we gave her the pre-natal fluid."

"And?" Maya had no idea where this was going.

"And it all added up." The nurse actually smiled for a second. "The blood mass, the high white-blood cell count, and the reaction to the pre-natal medicine. So I did a standard life-center check. You can see it on page three." The nurse motioned to the file and Maya quickly grabbed the folder out of Farkle's hands and flipped rapidly to page three. She thought she might know a thing or two about what the nurse would say next.

"Oh my gosh." Maya breathed when she stopped at page three. "Nausea." She gasped. Her eyes snapped back up to the nurse and the nurse smiled and nodded slightly.

"What?" Farkle looked over Maya's shoulder, trying to see what she was looking at. "Maya, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Farkle." Maya actually smiled and took a few shuddering breaths.

"Quite the opposite." The nurse pointed at a few words printed across the page and Farkle's eyes flew to them.

"Farkle!" Maya cried, "Riley's pregnant!"

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"Minkus?" a quiet nurse poked her head into the overnight ICU waiting room. Maya and Farkle were sitting in the chairs reading, Riley was splayed out on a small cot, sleeping peacefully with a smile on her face. When she heard the voice, Maya stirred in surprise. It had been quiet for hours.

"I'm Farkle Minkus." Farkle stood up quickly to shake the nurse's hand. "Is there news on Kisha?"

"Janie." The nurse offered her hand quickly, then continued, "It says on her contact sheet that you are her legal guardians?" the nurse clarified.

"Yes." Farkle nodded. "We've been waiting to hear if Lena wants us to pick the rest of the kids up from the station. And to hear anything new about Kisha. How is she doing?"

"I'm sorry you've had to wait so long." Janie apologized. "I happened to hear that your wife is pregnant."

"A pleasant surprise, yes." Farkle beamed.

"Congratulations." Janie smiled to Maya. Maya's eyes widened slightly.

"Oh no." she shook her head and quietly laid her book in her lap. "I'm just a friend. The mother is asleep."

"Of course." Janie smiled. "This whole thing probably isn't very good for her."

"She insisted we stay." Farkle explained.

"She cares about people." Maya added quietly. Janie's smile faded.

"That's what I came to talk to you about." She folded her hands in front of her. "Kisha passed away about twenty minutes ago. Lena is filling out paperwork and has requested that you and your wife pick her children up from the police station and take them home for the night. She says she will call you in the morning."

"Of course." Farkle swallowed thickly. "If that's what she wants."

"I'll get Riley." Maya moved into action. Her instincts took over and she slowly shook Riley awake gently. "Come on, Riles. We're going home now."

"So soon?" she sighed sleepily.

"Yeah, the nurse says we can go." Maya limited what she said at the moment. "Let's get you to the car."

"Did they ever find out what the virus was?" Farkle asked as he watched Maya help Riley down the hall.

"You weren't informed?" Janie asked, her voice dropping.

"Informed of what?"

"It wasn't a virus. By the time they got the blood samples back, it was too late. But they still ran the samples. There were traces of arsenic in her bloodstream."

"What does that mean?" Farkle asked.

"Whether with cleaning supplies, or a mislabeled bottle at school, Kisha was poisoned."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"Maya!" Riley shook the limp arm and ruffled the tousled blonde hair. "Maya wake up!"

"Riles?" Maya asked groggily, rolling over. "What time is it? Is it the kids?"

"Come on, wake up." Riley helped Maya sit up on the couch as she flipped a lamp on. "It's four."

"In the morning?" Maya couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Sh." Riley held a finger to her lips. "Lena's kids are still sleeping."

"What is this?" Maya frowned and rubbed her eyes. "This better be important." Then she remembered the news she had found out the night before. "Oh my gosh." Maya's eyes widened. "Is it morning sickness? Pains? Are you ok?" she shot off the couch and looked Riley over. "Lie down. I'll get the hot water bottle."

"Maya." Riley stopped Maya from racing off down the hall. "Calm down. I'm fine."

"Where's Farkle?" Maya looked around the living room, orienting herself.

"Bringing the car around." Riley explained and brushed some hair out of her face. "The hospital called. Lena just left to arrange things for the funeral. She asked me to watch the kids for a day."

"Poor woman." Maya sighed.

"And the police called about forty minutes ago. They need you at the station."

"For questioning." Maya breathed. This could not be happening.

"Farkle is waiting to drive you down there. Grab your coat and I'll drop the rest of your things off at your flat later in the morning when I have the kids up." Riley instructed as she handed Maya her purse.

"What, no." Maya began to protest. "Riley, you need to be resting. You need Farkle here to help you take care of those kids. I'll just take the subway."

"At four in the morning into Manhattan? Yeah, I don't think so." Riley shook her head and tossed a coat at Maya. "Button up, it's freezing out there."

"What about you?" Maya asked as she began to shove her arms into the sleeves.

"What about me?" Riley wondered.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll go back to sleep." Riley replied as if it was obvious. "Then I'll get up around seven and make the kids breakfast and drop them at school."

"You can't do all that by yourself. I thought you were feeling sick!"

"There's no other option. Maya, you have to go. They already think you're guilty." Riley whispered, eyes to the floor.

"I'll be back as fast I can." Maya promised as she shouldered her purse and was hurried out the door.

"I know." Riley nodded. "But I'll be fine. Trust me." The door closed firmly and Maya peered out into the dim morning. It was pouring rain. Farkle's car headlights illuminated the building and guided her race out to the car as she threw herself into the vehicle, slamming the door behind her.

"You ok?" Farkle asked as he put the car in drive.

"Yeah." Maya nodded breathlessly.

"Traffic shouldn't be too bad yet. You'll be there in plenty of time." Farkle explained as they pulled out of the complex and into the street.

"Thanks."

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"Thanks." Maya said again, this time accepting the cup of cheap coffee one of the officers handed her.

"That's our life line around here." The young officer smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back slightly.

"I know the feeling." She chuckled dryly and took a sip. It was a little sweet for her taste but she decided that she didn't care what it tasted like, she just needed to be awake.

"Anything else I can do for you, just holler. Today is a paperwork day, I can feel it." He sighed and shuffled off to his desk after Maya nodded her agreement. She watched him walk away. If only he could do her interview. He seemed nice enough.

"Maya Hart." She heard her name and she looked up and saw a lady officer approaching. She stood and collected her purse and coat. "They're ready for you. Come with me."

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"It was intentional." Maya's fists were turning a sickly shade of pale as she gripped the arms of her chair. "You're telling me someone intentionally poisoned that innocent little girl?"

"No, Miss Hart, we're telling you that the coroner's report came back with some interesting test results. Some of the undigested doughnut that was tested came back positive for arsenic poisoning."

"And how was I supposed to know it was poisoned?" Maya gasped helplessly. "You brought me here because you think I killed her?" she scoffed.

"No, Miss Hart, we're only trying to gather more information. We need to know how you acquired the doughnut, every place you had it, why you gave it to the girl, and also make sure it hasn't contaminated anything else. First off, has anyone else close to you gotten ill?" Tim, the officer that had debriefed her after her incident at the subway, was doing the interview again along with his partner Terry. Unfortunately, Terry was not as nice as she looked and seemed not to be doing much except trying to scare Maya into saying something.

"No, not that I'm aware of." She responded tiredly.

"Not that you're aware of?" Tim asked suspiciously.

"Well, what do you want me to say? I can't be positive if no one tells me, right?" she threw up her hands in defeat. She watched Tim sigh in frustration and rub a hand over his temple.

"There's nothing we want you to say, Maya. We just want an honest answer."

"And that's exactly what I'm giving." She finished firmly.

"Then let's continue." Tim began again. "When did you first get the doughnut and how?"

"I told you," Maya sighed, "my secretary, Kate, brought it to me two mornings ago along with my morning coffee."

"And I already told you we're running a background check on Kate." Tim explained.

"Which is completely pointless." Maya retorted. "She's just a kid. Not even a year of college under her belt. She doesn't have a background. She doodles on my agendas when she's bored. She didn't know the doughnut was poisoned."

"Yes, well that's not your job to determine, but thank you for your good word." Tim stopped her and looked to Terry who was now taking notes. "Anyway, it was your breakfast you said. So why didn't you eat it?"

"The painkillers." Maya explained. "For my shoulder. They made me lose my appetite. Besides, I was busy. I didn't have time to eat."

"Is it very usual for you to skip food?" Tim asked.

"I wouldn't say so." Maya raised her eyebrows with a huff.

"Then what? Where did you put it? Who had access to it?" Tim added.

"I don't know. I think I just left it on my desk and it's not like I'm in my office every second. Anyone could have gone in though no one from the office would have except Kate. I like my space."

"Yes, I can imagine." Tim replied with a snip to his voice. Maya just gave him a tight smile and picked at her nail polish. "So anyone could have come in and done something with it and you no one would have noticed?"

"I mean, define notice." Maya shifted in her chair. "No one really cares who goes where in the office. We all are sharing plans and projects and stuff. No one asks questions and no one vigilant about locking doors. So sure, maybe lots of people came in, maybe no one did. And I can bet you zero people remember who did or didn't that day." Maya finished.

"That's not exactly helpful."

"Well, you wanted the truth and that's it." Maya sighed.

"So the next time you remember anything about it, you remember taking it back home with you?" Tim picked up the interview again.

"Not to my house, to Riley's." Maya corrected.

"Yes." Tim nodded and Terry wrote something down. "Why were you over at the Minkus' condo that evening?"

"I always am." Maya explained. "Especially with this whole thing happening in the past few weeks I haven't really had time to cook or clean. I was over for dinner and to relax."

"And you came across Kisha at her door?" Tim filled in.

"Yeah." Maya nodded. "The door is across from Riley's. I hadn't officially met the family yet, but Riley talked about how poor they were. I felt sorry for the girl."

"So you offered her the doughnut."

"Well, I invited her to dinner, but she said her mom wanted her at home. So then yeah, I offered her the doughnut." Maya explained.

"And that's the last interaction you had with Kisha or the food." Tim set the file down on the table and took a seat. "And then you heard she was dead."

"Well…yes." Maya's voice grew softer.

"I need answers." Tim's voice had a far-off sound to it, like he wasn't talking to anyone in the room.

"I told you everything I know." Maya added. "But if it will help, you can talk to my coworkers and ask if they saw anything suspicious about my office that day."

"I might just do that." Tim sighed. "But I'm running out of options."

"I just don't get it." Maya said aloud, but to no one in particular. "It was a spur of the moment decision to give the doughnut to Kisha. I didn't even know I'd do it. So how could someone count on me doing that?" Tim looked up at her as she said the words, then his eyes darted to Terry. Terry's lips were pursed. Maya looked up at them. "And so how could anyone have known Kisha would eat it? Maybe it's just all a mistake. Something spilled in the doughnut shop maybe. Stuff like that can happen."

"Arsenic doesn't just accidentally spill in a bakery." Terry added under her breath.

"So really foul play is the only option then." Maya looked back to Tim.

"I hate to go there, but that's probably what we're looking at."

"But motive-wise, who wants to kill a little girl? She hadn't even learned to divide yet." Maya shook her head. She looked down at the jeans she was wearing. She traced a seam that was coming out. And then she caught sight of her purse sitting on the floor next to her. Her vision flashed back to that day in the office. Her purse on her desk, and her hands, accepting the doughnut and coffee from Kate. Maya's eyes widened. "The doughnut was meant for me. It was mine." She spoke slowly. She heard Tim take a deep breath. "So what if Kisha dying was all a big mistake and I'm the one who's supposed to be dead." Maya finished, waiting, hoping for someone to start laughing at the idea. But no one said a thing. She looked up at Tim. He wouldn't meet her eyes. "Tim, is that even possible?" she spoke up, fear rising in her voice.

"I was hoping we'd come across something that would point us in a different direction after interviewing you today, but it doesn't seem like we will." He pushed his chair back and stood up. Maya stood up too, not about to let him leave without answering the millions of questions piling up in her mind.

"Wait, wait." Maya stopped him from moving toward the door. "Tim, this doesn't have anything to do with the subway, does it? Or the shooting?" Maya swallowed thickly.

"Miss Hart-" Tim began in an intentionally calm tone.

"No!" Maya cut him off. "Are you saying that someone might be making attempts on my life and an innocent little girl just died because a plan didn't work?"

"I'm not saying anything yet." Tim shook his head. "We don't have enough information. We'll continue to look into it."

"Who else will die then?" Maya cried as Terry began to collect her notes. "Riley? Farkle? We have to do something whatever this is!" Maya grabbed her purse and followed Tim out of the room and into the hallway of the precinct. "We can't just stand by and do nothing!"

"We aren't doing nothing." Tim turned to face her and quieted her. "I'm consulting people. I'm taking statements now. This won't be pushed aside. We'll take care of it."

"And what am I supposed to do now?" Maya asked helplessly. "Not eat anything ever again until I get the ok from you?"

"As of now, we just need you to be careful. Report anything suspicious directly to me. And I mean really suspicious. Not anything to do with an over-active imagination." He handed her a card. "My number. You notice or remember anything unusual, call me. But other than that, just go about your days. I'll let you know when I find anything new."

"Great." Maya called as he walked off down the hallway. "So I walk away with a number and a death threat!"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

It was late by the time Lucas finally pushed open the back door and stumbled into the hallway with his arms full of groceries.

"Lucas?" a voice called cautiously.

"Yeah, it's me." He grunted. "I promise, I won't shoot." He teased as his mother's caretaker appeared from around the corner. Lucas had liked Charlotte since she first started taking care of his mother a year ago. And since moving back into his house with his mom and Charlotte, he liked her even more. She was a gift from God.

"Here, I'll help." She took a bag from his arms and he nodded his thanks as they carried the sacks to the counter in the big, country kitchen. Lucas had tried last year to convince his mom to just sell the house and move into an apartment or assisted living community since the battle with the cancer was taking its toll on her. But she had put her foot down. She would not sell the property that his father had worked so hard to make a dream for her. Lucas tried everything. He even offered to live there himself so it stayed in the family, but she insisted that while she was alive, she'd be living in her home. Her real home. So Lucas gave in and hired Charlotte to stay in full time with Wednesdays off.

"How's she doin today?" Lucas asked as Charlotte began to put the groceries away in the dark kitchen.

"She really wants to watch a movie with you." Charlotte smiled slightly. "Though she's probably asleep by now." She paused and looked up at him. "Did you remember to pick up her meds on your way?"

"Right here." Lucas produced a small paper package.

"Perfect." Charlotte took the package and set it aside.

"I'll go and check on her." Lucas excused himself and walked through the spanning ceilings and hardwood floors and ascended the expansive staircase quietly. He peered into the den where his mom's daybed had been set up. It was in the sitting position and he sighed when he saw her asleep. He walked over and quietly began to lower the bed.

"Lucas?" she mumbled.

"Sh. Rest, Mama." He ran a large, rough hand over her forehead.

"I had such a wonderful dream today." She even smiled to prove it. He smiled when he saw her face light up. "You got yourself a pretty, little wife and I was reading to my grandchildren." She explained. Lucas chuckled.

"Mama, you have that dream every day."

"It was especially good today." She reached up and ran her withered hand down his cheek and he grasped her hand in his. "I've been ready to leave for a while now, but you remember, I told you I wasn't leaving this earth until you had found a girl who could take care of you just as well as I could."

"I remember." Lucas replied softly.

"So when are you gonna find one of those?" she rasped. "You're putting a lot of stress on your old mama by making her wait around so long."

"Sorry, Mama." He pulled the blankets up tighter around her. "You know I'm too busy to think about that right now."

"Nonsense." She shook her head. For a woman who was losing the battle of life, she had a surprising amount of energy. "Marriage isn't about finding the right time. There is no right time. It's about choosing the time that you want to start making an effort. You're busy now? Then get married and you'll just be busy with another person. Although, from what I learned, getting married actually slows you down a bit. Gives you something nice to look at."

"I'm not marrying a girl just cause she's nice to look at." Lucas laughed.

"Good. But it is a plus." She sighed and he saw that she was exhausted.

"Rest." He whispered and kissed her forehead. She was asleep.

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"Did you honestly think I wasn't going to buy it clothes?" Maya asked as she stopped once again in a section of baby clothes.

"Well yes, just not when it's got this long to come." Riley giggled and admired the tiny shoes. "But it is so exciting!"

"Look at the little white girl shoes!" Maya cried, sticking her fingers in a pair of Uggs. "Figures they're over thirty dollars. This isn't enough material to even make a glove for my hand."

"Ah yes. Because Maya is never cynical." Riley deadpanned and Maya gave her a look. Riley smiled and put the Uggs back on the shelf.

"Please tell me you'll dress your baby like its age." Maya begged as the two girls stepped back out into a main aisle of Target and headed for the checkout area. "And don't give it a phone until it's at least in the sixth grade."

"Jee why don't you just parent the kid for me." Riley laughed. "You seem to know how you want it raised."

"Heck yeah I know." Maya nodded vigorously and stopped as a purse on a shelf caught her eye. "I know what's good."

"Like that purse?" Riley eyed the purse as Maya pulled it off the shelf and slung it over her shoulder.

"How's it look?" Maya asked as she stepped in front of a mirror.

"Do you need a new one?" Riley asked as Maya turned back and forth and tried the purse on different positions of her arms, then examined the pockets and zippers.

"Well not really, but look how cute." Maya replied quickly. "You don't find this color of green just anywhere."

"I thought you didn't even like green."

"Well I guess it's technically mint." Maya added as an afterthought.

"Put it back, Peaches." Riley chuckled and took the purse from Maya and placed it back on the shelf. "We've been over this. Don't buy what you don't need."

"Hey, I live alone. I only pay for myself. I can afford stuff like that."

"Yeah well, soon you won't be living alone and then you'll need all the money you can get." Riley spoke from experience.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Maya sighed as they got in line for checkout.

"Saying what?"

"That soon I'll be married or dating or whatever."

"Because you will." Riley replied as if that explained everything.

"Does my schedule strike you as the kind that can squeeze dates in? Does my personality strike you as the caring, selfless kind? Does my current police predicament strike you as convenient for a guy? None of those things add up for an appealing partner." Maya explained while Riley flipped through a magazine on food.

"Maya, you know you want to eventually settle down. We've talked about this. When you meet the right person, which you will, you won't have a problem making the effort to work with all the problems you encounter."

"Just because you got the fairytale like your parents doesn't mean everyone does." Maya sighed as she grabbed a pack of gum and set in on the conveyor belt to purchase.

"I never said you would." Riley put the magazine on the belt too and began to dig around in her purse for her wallet. "But Maya you're only twenty-two. You have time. So what if you're not married in the next month? You have a great job, a nice apartment, and family and friends who love you. Your mom and Shawn are happy and safe, Farkle and I adore you, and your career is taking off. Everyone loves the work you're doing with the city. You have so much to be thankful for. I don't understand why you think that you need a guy right now on top of that."

"Don't you see?" Maya began, but Riley stepped up to the register and Maya saw that now wasn't a good time to try to explain the situation to Riley. It wasn't just that she had always loved Riley's life, she wanted to experience what Riley did, it was also that she was tired of her 'me, myself, and I' lifestyle. But she also hated the idea of sharing everything with someone. But at night, alone, she would feel the creeping doubts that she would be stuck in work forever, and soon Riley and Farkle would get caught up in building a family, and while that was great, Maya wanted her life too. Soon she wouldn't be able to have a life through Riley and Farkle anymore. They wouldn't always be available for her. She needed to start focusing on building her life. And right now it felt as if her life was going in circles, each day the same thing. Except for the recent shootings, Maya had been worried that her life might actually be stuck on repeat.

"Wanna stop for coffee?" Riley offered once they were out in the car and pulling out of the parking lot.

"Whatever you want." Maya was exhausted and honestly just wanted to get home and take a nap. "But if you don't mind, could you drop me home?"

"You're not staying for dinner?" Riley asked and Maya heard the slight surprise in Riley's tone.

"No, sorry. Just, with work tomorrow and all, I should probably make it an early night and get some sleep."

"Of course." Riley nodded and turned the car in the direction of Maya's flat.

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"Riles." After the long silence in the car, Maya's voice startled Riley.

"What." Riley asked.

"Riles." Maya's hand came down on Riley's arm. Riley then noticed the strange tone of Maya's voice. Riley's chest began to tighten. This wasn't right. "I don't want you to look, ok, but I think that we're being followed." Immediately Riley's eyes darted to the rearview mirror.

"Which car?" she asked quickly.

"I said don't look." Maya warned, her voice harsh, but collected. It's like a switch had flipped in her. She looked almost angry. "It's dark blue Honda a few cars back. I saw it pull out of the Chipotle right after us way back at Target."

"Maya, does that really mean he's following us though?" Riley asked, fear creeping into her joints. She was now driving in a trance.

"The way he keeps matching his speed with ours, I think it does." Maya replied. "But I told you because I have an idea. Let's take a few turns and see what he does."

"No, Maya, we need to go somewhere safe." Riley countered.

"Where?" Maya asked.

"Well…" Riley tried hard to think of somewhere.

"While you think, turn left up here." Maya took over. "Or else we'll switch seats and I'll drive." Riley turned left. Maya refrained from looking at the rearview mirror and only used her side mirror to check behind. The Honda followed along with a few other random cars. "He followed." Maya announced. Riley sucked in her breath. "Take another left." Maya instructed. Riley turned and Maya watched as the Honda turned out onto the same road a few moments later. "Speed up." Maya barked quickly. Riley stepped on the gas and the car lurched forward, reaching towards forty miles an hour. The Honda gained too. Maya cursed under her breath. "Ok, slow back down and turn right up here. Don't signal."

"Maya, call Farkle or something!" Riley pleaded.

"And what could he do? Turn!" Maya cried before Riley missed the road. The car swerved onto a road sided by industrial outlets.

"Pull into that section up there." Maya pointed to a small docking bay that had a small road attached that went further into the development.

"What? Why?" Riley asked, but did as she was told. "Put it in park." Maya ordered, then unbuckled.

"What are you doing?" Riley asked.

"The light was yellow when you turned." Maya explained, trying to remember every car chase movie she'd ever seen. "So he's stuck. He didn't see us turn in here. But he knows we drove down this road so he'll come this way. As he drives past, we need to get the license plate number."

"Will we even be able to see it?" Riley wondered aloud.

"We'll follow him and see how he likes it." Maya muttered.

"What? No. Bad idea." Riley shook her head.

"Quick. I'm driving." Maya motioned for Riley to get out of the driver's seat. "Hurry before he passes!" Maya cried as they shuffled over the cup holders and into the opposite seats. "Buckle up. Things might get ugly."

"Maya…" Riley used a warning tone.

"Ok, not ugly. But maybe slightly illegal." Maya corrected herself. She buckled herself in, took the car out of park, but kept her foot on the brake. And they waited. And sure enough, about twenty seconds later, the dark blue Honda came tearing down the road at a fast pace. "Shoot!" Maya cried. "Why is he going so fast!?" she ripped her foot off the brake and sped the car out of the development and revved it onto the road in behind the Honda. Riley covered her eyes. "Riley! Get the license plate!" Maya yelled. Riley took her hands off her eyes and squinted. "Memorize it!" Maya snapped.

"B-B-L?" Riley guessed. "6-9-3!" she cried. Maya slapped the steering wheel in triumph. "Maya!" Riley cried and Maya looked up. She slammed on the breaks as the Honda came to a dead stop in front of her. "Oh no!" Riley shrieked.

"Put your head down, don't let him see you!" Maya hissed and jerked the steering wheel to the side. "I can't believe they don't teach you this in driver's ed." She punched the gas and they lurched across their lane and into the opposite one, around the Honda and back into their lane, racing up to sixty on a twenty mile per hour road.

"Maya!" Riley gasped. "Slow down!"

"Not until we lose him! He knew what we were doing and he can't have us show the number to anyone! Quick, write it down while you remember it!" Riley hurriedly dug through the glove compartment for a pen and scrap paper.

"Where are we going?" Riley asked as Maya tore back out onto a main road, across it, and raced up the freeway on-ramp.

"Back into Manhattan. If we gotta lose him, we can do it best in there." But when Maya looked back in the rearview mirror, the Honda was nowhere in sight. It was gone.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

By the time Farkle arrived at the station, both Maya and Riley had already given their statements to the cops and were sitting in the hallway, Riley with a cup of tea and Maya with her coffee.

"Riley!" Farkle cried when he saw them and Riley's face immediately flooded with relief.

"Oh, Sweet!" she raced into his arms and all her fears began to melt. "Did you hear what happened?"

"They told me the gist of it." He led Riley back over to the chair and sat down with them. "You ok, Maya?" he asked. She nodded stiffly and pulled her jacket sleeve down. Riley frowned and turned to Maya.

"Maya sprained her wrist driving like a madwoman." Riley explained.

"It's just a bruise." Maya mumbled.

"Yeah, unless you actually saw a medical person who would tell you it's sprained at least." Riley retorted.

"Don't they have someone here who can check her out?" Farkle asked.

"I'm fine!" Maya exploded as she stormed to her feet, her empty paper cup falling to the floor. "Don't you see that?"

"Maya, we-"

"Stop!" Maya cut Riley off. "Why are you all so worried about me?! I'm worried about you guys! Riley, you're pregnant and every minute you two spend with me could be putting you in some sort of danger!"

"Maya, don't talk like that." Farkle shook his head. "We're not in danger."

"Yes, you are!" Maya insisted. "I don't care what anyone says anymore! I know someone is after me!"

"You're just paranoid from this whole thing." Riley explained, rubbing a hand over Maya's shoulder. "You should go home and rest."

"I'm not going back home, no way. And before you offer, no I can't go to your place either. Don't you see? Anywhere I go could result in me or whoever I'm with ending up dead!"

"Miss Hart?" a voice called from the end of the hall. The group looked up and saw Tim, the officer, walking toward them. "If you could lower your voice, we'd appreciate it. Hello Mr. Minkus." He shook hands with Farkle. "Your wife and friend were very good detectives and took down the license plate. Unfortunately, the car was scanned and was found to be stolen." Tim sighed.

"Perfect." Maya muttered and crossed her arms.

"But, it's a good start. I can pursue the stolen car case and that might lead me to finding more information on whoever has been making these attempts on Maya's life."

"So it's true then?" Farkle couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're saying that Maya isn't overreacting? Someone actually has been trying to kill her?"

"Well, if you have any other ideas I'd love to hear them, but as of now, I'm pursuing the most promising lead and this one seems to make the most sense at the moment." Tim replied. "Miss Hart has had some legitimate concerns." When he said that, Maya instantly forgave Tim for treating her like she was stupid the last time she had been in.

"So then what does that mean?" Riley asked, her brows furrowed in concern and concentration. "What do we need to do?"

"Well I've pondered this problem for the past few days and have thought of a few options." Tim proposed. "Would you like to come to my office and we can discuss them?" They followed him to a conference room and he closed the door behind them. Maya noticed a few pairs of eyes trained on them as they entered the room. She suspected that a lot of the staff had heard of her predicament. Tim had mentioned that not all the staff believed her that it was a serious problem, so she glared daggers back at them. "Now, I don't expect any of these options to be convenient or pleasurable." Tim began as soon as they were all seated.

"As long as no creep is following me." Maya folded her hands.

"Then let's begin." Tim opened a folder he had been holding and began to read down the page. "First option we have is setting up a hotel for you, nothing very fancy, but a nice enough room for you to live in until the situation seems safe enough for you to return to your apartment."

"That's not so bad." Riley nodded at Maya.

"What else you got?" Maya turned back to Tim.

"Second option is to return you to your apartment, but add our own security measures to the systems. More cameras, more locks on your doors, even direct 911 cords in your house if you wanted it."

"But I'd still live there?" Maya clarified.

"Yes." Tim nodded.

"Any other options?"

"Last one. Every now and then in rare circumstances, we can assign a personal officer to you that would live with you and instigate every safety measure that we approved to make sure everywhere you went and every person you came in contact with was good and clear." Tim explained.

"Like a bodyguard?" Maya raised her eyebrows and snorted slightly.

"Well, if you want to think of it like that…" Tim shrugged. "We call them witness-protectors but…"

"Don't you think having someone with me constantly is a little extreme?" Maya asked Riley and Farkle. "Besides, I can't afford to feed another."

"No cost, they would be sponsored through the station. Usually we assign one of our own cops that's either about to retire or new to the job. Gets them some experience."

"Mmmm." Maya frowned. She hated her personal space being invaded. She hated people watching her and copying her. She didn't like the sound of someone following her, even it was with good intentions. And living with her? On her couch? No way. "I think the hotel will work fine for now." Maya decided. "How long will I stay there?"

"I think the station agreed to pay for three nights to start with." Tim flipped through more of the papers. "Then we'd reevaluate and take it from there."

"I can work with that." Maya nodded and pulled her purse out. "When do I move in?"

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"He followed her?" Lucas couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"At first I didn't believe her." Tim propped his feet up on his desk and switched the phone to his other ear. "But for one, Riley agreed that the situation was out of hand. And then when I found out it was a stolen car, things began to add up." Tim shook his head. "I just don't know what to do about this, Lucas. The chief doesn't want me to get hung up on this, I want to make sure nothing hurts that girl, and that girl of yours is a handful."

"Yeah, no kidding." Lucas chuckled.

"I didn't tell them, but that same car was spotted several times by different people around her flat at different times. It could be a coincidence, maybe a mix up of cars, but more than likely your friend is in some form of problem."

"I get it, man." Lucas sighed and waved goodnight to one of his fellow officers as he stepped out into the cold night air and walked to his car. "It's a tough position to be in. But from a personal standpoint, I want to thank you for watching over my friend. I don't care what the chief says. I'm worried about her. I tried to call her landline the other day but her answering machine was full."

"Yeah, she's not the most organized." Tim laughed. "Even I could figure that out."

"So she moved to the hotel huh?" Lucas started his car up and backed out of the precinct.

"Yeah. Ramada Inn, three days, two nights to start with. We'll see if the chief will allow anything else after that."

"Just take it a day at a time." Lucas advised. "Have you found anything more out about the car?"

"Nothing. Just keep turning up dead ends." Tim sighed in frustration. "I feel like I'm just scraping the surface of something big, I just can't sink my claws into the middle of it."

"All cops get that feeling at least once in the business." Lucas admitted.

"Great so I hit cop-puberty." Tim laughed and Lucas snickered. The two of them always knew how to cheer the other one up. "How's your mom?" Tim asked after their laughter died down.

"She's doing well." Lucas nodded to himself. "Battling, but still content. She gets out maybe twice a week and other than that is usually in bed or in her wheelchair in the living room. Now that Charlotte has come to work for her, she's cheered up and she keeps badgering me about getting married."

"Well hey, a mom's gotta do what she's gotta do. I didn't understand it until I met Amy. When I met her, I suddenly understood why my mom had been so adamant about me not missing out on married life. It's great. Especially in this business."

"How's that?" Lucas turned onto the main road out to the ranch.

"It's a built in best friend that never can say no to another cop talk." Tim chuckled to himself. "I can run every case by her, get a fresh pair of eyes to inspect things. She listens as I tell her about a particularly gory accident I had to work or a stubborn client that got me angry that day. And then I get to sit and listen to her tell me about plants and she makes it all better while she cooks. The house has never looked so feminine and so amazing. New paint, new furniture and it's great."

"Sounds like you found your match." Lucas smiled.

"Hey come on," Tim began, "how many times have I told you to just ask out one of the ladies at your station?"

"Too many." Lucas groaned. "And I keep telling you that all of them are either taken or not my type."

"And you know what your type is?" Tim laughed. "I think that when you're desperate you kinda have to settle for any type as long as she's a Christian."

"Gee thanks." Lucas laughed too and pulled onto the gravel drive and immediately his two huskies began to chase his car up to the house just like they did every night. "Well, Tim, I gotta run. Charlotte's making dinner tonight and I don't want it to get cold."

"What about Charlotte?" Tim suggested. "Ask her out."

"She's married." Lucas deadpanned. "Besides, she has brown eyes."

"So?" Tim asked.

"I like blue."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

She woke to a strange sound. She rolled over lazily and tried to get her eyes to focus on the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was one in the morning. She groaned, rolled back over, and was about to go back to sleep when she realized the noise that had woken her in the first place. It was coming from the room door. She froze. Someone was trying to break in. She quickly grabbed her phone and silently dialed 911. And for once, she was scared she wouldn't make it out this time.

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"Oh my God, Maya!" Riley cried when she saw Maya standing among the group of officers. Riley raced forward and embraced her best friend, not even caring that she felt like she was about to throw up everywhere. "What happened? Are you ok?" she stepped back to look Maya over.

"I'm ok, Riles." Maya replied, but her voice was shaky and Riley noticed a look on her face that she had never seen before. But she couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"What happened?" Riley turned to Tim who had just walked out into the parking lot to join them. "No one told me anything on the phone!"

"Someone attempted to break into Maya's room tonight." Tim explained and watched as the blonde-haired girl stood motionless, eyes darting to and fro. She wouldn't be getting over this anytime soon. In fact, she had a lot of processing to do. And that's when Tim made his decision. He was calling in a favor.

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"You want me to what?!" Lucas couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You know what I said." Tim challenged. He had been phoned Lucas as soon as Maya and Riley had been seated comfortably in the back station room with tea and a lady officer to keep them company. "I want you to come up here and be Maya's witness-protector until I figure out what's going on."

"You must be joking." Lucas had no idea where this had come from. "Is this a prank?"

"No." Tim sounded dead tired. "Lucas, that lock was ten seconds from being broken. If that guest hadn't opened his curtains and called the front desk, she could be dead right now." Lucas let out a long breath and ran his hand over his face. "I can't keep letting this happen. Obviously she's not going to keep getting lucky. You're one of my most trusted friends and coworkers and you also know Maya extremely well from what I understand. She didn't like the idea the last time I brought it up, but I'm hoping that if her protector is someone she knows, then maybe she'll be more willing to work with you on this."

"Or we'll argue until we explode like back in high school." Lucas added in.

"Lucas, she's a complex girl. I don't have much time. My hands are tied. I called you because you're my first choice. I trust you with her. She's my only living link to this whole case and I'm trusting you with her." Tim pleaded.

"Tell you what," Lucas decided, "give me some time to think it over and I'll call you tomorrow when I figure out what I want to do."

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"Thanks for coming with us." Riley squeezed Maya's hand as the nurse checked her temperature.

"Well, duh." Maya scoffed and looked over at Farkle who was sitting in a chair looking like the nurse might try to stab Riley at any moment. "You think I was gonna leave it up to him to figure things out?" Riley giggled and played with a loosed thread on the hospital gown she was wearing. The nurse stepped out of the room and Riley lowered her voice.

"Does the doctor really have to look…down there?" she grimaced. Maya felt like laughing at how naïve Riley still could be at times.

"Yeah, Riles. He does." Maya chuckled. "You'll probably get used to it. After a while it won't even bother you."

"Like you would know." Riley accused and put on her pouty face. Maya sighed and checked her phone while they waited. Riley had been right. She didn't know a thing about being pregnant. In fact, she might not ever know a thing about being pregnant….

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"I can't do it." Lucas had his head in his hands. "I can't leave her."

"You need to calm down." Charlotte handed him another shot and he took it like it was water. She shook her head.

"I mean Maya and I go way back, I can't just let her get killed. But I can't leave Mom. Not while she's like this. I can't fly halfway across the country and leave you here with her for a month at a time." Lucas looked back at Charlotte. "Besides, any cop can help Maya. Why did he even ask me?"

"Don't ask me." Charlotte giggled helplessly. "I don't even know these people you're talking about." She got up from her seat and handed Lucas his phone. "But if you want to know, why don't you call one of them and ask?" with that she grabbed her car keys and bags, wished him a safe night and promised to be back in the morning with the mail. She let herself out and left Lucas alone in the kitchen with his phone in his hand. He still knew the cell number by heart. Farkle answered through the third ring.

"You know it's one in the morning here, right?" he asked, not even greeting Lucas. Lucas smiled.

"Hey, buddy. How's it goin?" Lucas heard something stirring in the background and heard a soft murmur that sounded like Riley's voice, then he heard Farkle shut a door somewhere.

"We've been pretty busy over here." Farkle explained. And then Lucas remembered that none of them knew that he had heard about the case.

"Oh yeah?" Lucas laughed. "I can imagine. Farkle, the cop that's on the case for Maya is an old friend of mine from the Academy. I've been over it with him."

"You have?" Farkle still sounded like he was coming out of a sleep stupor. "Oh good then. So why the late call? Don't tell me it's your mom,"

"No no, nothing like that." Lucas promised. "I actually wanted to ask you about Maya."

"What about her?" Farkle wondered.

"Where is she staying tonight?" Lucas remembered suddenly that she couldn't be in another hotel room."

"She's here." Farkle explained. "She's sleeping on our bedroom floor. And let me tell you, when you get married, don't have Maya Hart sleep on your bedroom floor. It's the most uncomfortable thing ever."

"Probably for her too." Lucas chuckled.

"She sleeps in only her underwear." Farkle shuddered. "I can't wait for them to figure out a way to keep her safe enough for her to live in her own flat."

"That's actually what I was calling about." Lucas admitted.

"Oh?" Farkle yawned and settled down on the couch to listen.

"Yeah. See, Tim's been keeping me up on all that's gone on and it's gotten to the point that Tim thinks Maya needs a witness-protector with her. She can't go into the witness protection program yet because they aren't sure what she witnessed, so the board won't let her in on those conditions. So Tim wants to assign someone to her."

"She won't like that." Farkle sighed.

"No, she probably won't." Lucas muttered and ran a hand through his hair. "But anyway, Tim called me up and well, he asked me first if I would be the one to do it." He waited for Farkle to say something.

"You to be the one to work with her?" Farkle clarified, sounding lost.

"Yeah. He wants me to fly up there." Lucas added. "Stay for a month and see how things go."

"Are you going to?" Farkle asked, regaining his composure and sounding completely enthralled by this new drama that was unfolding.

"That's where I need your help." Lucas sighed in defeat. "I know I haven't done the best job of keeping in contact with you guys, but it hasn't been too long since I was last in New York. I wanted to know why Tim wants me specifically. Do you think that it would be a good fit if I was to be the one to go up there and help Maya?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"Whether or not you still care about her." Farkle replied softly. Lucas blew out a breath. He thought back to middle school and high school. He thought back to the night under the stars where he almost kissed her, the times he made her laugh and the fights they had.

"Yeah." He replied hoarsely. "I do."

"Then I think you should come." Farkle answered. "You know Maya better almost anyone and I think that even though she wouldn't admit it, she would feel safe with you." Lucas liked the sound of that. "She has a very specific living style that I don't know many people could handle." Farkle added, snickering.

"Yeah, might as well not subject any other rookie cop to that horror." Lucas laughed back and he began to feel the relief at having made a decision. "Now I just have to ask my mom…" he trailed off.

"Well, call me tomorrow when you make your final decision." Farkle requested.

"Oh!" Lucas remembered. "I heard about Riley's pregnancy! Congratulations!"

"Thanks." Farkle's voice immediately lightened and it made Lucas nostalgic for New York and his friends. He had to talk to his mom. He had to go to Maya. He had to see her again.

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"You're going." His mom ordered as soon as he finished explaining the whole story. "I always liked Maya and to think of her in danger makes me feel like dying on the spot." She held a hand to her heart. "Don't you even start worrying," she held up her hand when he was about to protest, "I'll be just fine. I have Charlotte and it's just a month to start with. Ah, little Maya." Mrs. Hart sighed fondly. "I remember her. Lots of spirit that one had."

"Mom, you used to hate her. You said she was a bad influence." Lucas chuckled. "She was always getting into something."

"People grow up." His mom smiled with her eyes closed and breathed deeply. "You need to get out. I'm tired of you sitting around with me all the time. You're only twenty-four. You need to be out doing things."

"I can't leave you here for a whole month with just Charlotte. Who will stay the nights with you?"

"I have friends, Lucas." His mom waved his concerns away like they were nothing. "More than you know. I'm still popular. I understand your sense of duty here, but I think you need to be there for your friends up north. It's been years since you've all seen each other and little Riley is pregnant! And Maya designing buildings! Look at how grown up you all are! And you're missing it. You are all missing the show."

"The show?"

"You learned for years in Mr. Matthews class about how to grow up and what kind of people you would be. And now it's actually happening and you're letting it pass you by. I think a little time with those friends might do you some good. Don't think I don't notice you moping around the house. You need to find something that makes you happy in life."

"Happy in life." Lucas repeated quietly. "I'm happy." But even as he said the words, he knew he was lying to himself. He had been for the past few months. He had hoped that something, anything might happen. He missed the purpose he used to feel all the time. Even now in his dream job as an officer, he still couldn't apply himself. He was lost. Lucas Friar was lost.

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"No. Way." Maya didn't know what on earth had just happened. She hadn't heard that name in over a year. "Lucas Friar?" she breathed the words and almost felt as if saying them might make him appear. She flinched like she felt his presence. In a way she did. She remembered his scent, the way his jacket felt on her shoulders, the jealousy she felt when he picked Riley every time. His contagious smile and the way she actually tried to make him proud of her.

"You remember him well?" Tim asked. Riley grimaced at Tim and he immediately knew he had said the wrong thing.

"I'm not doing this." Maya shook her head, refusing before Tim could even continue explaining the decision the chief had come to. "I didn't even want a person with me, but this is a whole new level of awful."

"Maya," Riley warned, "let him explain."

"Well, Lucas and I attended Academy together and we've kept in contact. And when I was doing a background check on you, I connected him to your friend group from high school. So I just thought, since he knows you well, and since you had years with him you might trust him more than a complete stranger assigned to you. Plus, he's already been slightly debriefed on the case because he's been a sort of sounding board for me." Tim tried to backtrack and fix the horrified look on Maya's face.

"You mean, you're flying him from Texas back up here?" Riley couldn't believe it. Would Lucas really become a part of their lives again? Would things still be the same? She hadn't seen him since her and Farkle's wedding and she didn't know what to think. And why was Maya so opposed to him coming? She could only assume that because she had never forgiven him for leaving back to Texas after college. Maya had taken it the hardest of them all, lots of yelling and a big fight. And at the wedding, it had hurt her even more to see him again. He was one of the only people who understood her and he had left. Just like her father. And it had left her a mess in the midst of her college career. Only thanks to Riley herself for getting Maya refocused on her art and classes was Maya able to graduate with honors and move on to bigger and better things.

"Yes." Tim replied.

"And he agreed to this?" Maya couldn't believe it. "You asked and he said yes?"

"He talked it over with his family and had a few things to clear with the department down there, but in the end, he was able to come and is currently on a plane due to land here in six hours." Tim answered.

"Anyone else, please." Maya stood up quickly.

"Maya, please." Riley put a hand on her arm and eased her back into the chair. "Please, this a serious thing. I know you and he have a lot of things to be mad at the other about, but this is about your safety. If Lucas can do the best job keeping you safe then we have to let him. He's trained for this. He knows what he's doing." Maya looked helplessly from Tim to Riley and back again. Neither was going to budge on the matter. She had been beaten. He was already on his way. She was going to be seeing Lucas Friar again whether she liked it or not. And she most certainly did not. Every time she saw a picture online or a post from Riley, every time she was reminded of him, it hurt.

 _He had left after she begged him not to. She begged him to stay in New York and not disband the group. But he hadn't listened. He had flown back home with the wind at his back, not even turning around in the security line to heed her distraught screams as he passed into the terminals and left her there, alone._

 _And then he had come back for the wedding and when she faced the crowd of people as Riley's maid of honor, she had spotted him, in the middle of the people, looking at Farkle with a smile on his face. And then he had looked to her. And she had thought she might die on the spot. She missed him. God, she missed him. He didn't smile. He didn't wave. He just looked. And so did she. Eventually Riley came down the aisle and everyone rose. Only then did Lucas let his eyes linger with hers for a moment longer and then turn to Riley in respect._

 _"Maya." He had called her name later than night at the reception. It was dark and Riley and Farkle had already left and most had gone home. She froze out on the grass, hoping he wouldn't continue. He appeared behind her and turned her to face him, not taking his hands away from her arms. She looked up at him, eyes glassy. "I wanted to say goodbye."_

 _"So did I." she had replied, voice hoarse and she turned stiffly away from him and walked quietly away back towards the beautifully lit hotel at the top of the grass hill, leaving him there, with her high school, her laughs, her jokes, her mischief, and her anger. She didn't have a grudge anymore. She was scared of him now. Because he still cared. And so did she. But that's the most dangerous situation of all. When both people care but every single other circumstance is keeping them apart. So she didn't let him say goodbye. Because if she had, she would've been trying to tamper with something that had already been decided and closed. It was a test. And she wasn't going to fail like every other one she had taken._

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"Maya?" Riley touched her gently and Maya's attention snapped back to Tim. "You can work with him, can't you?"

"I'm not cooking for him." Was her curt reply and she excused herself.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Lucas didn't know what to think when he stepped off the plane and breathed in the air of New York again. The last time he had done that was when he had come for Riley's wedding. It felt so familiar, yet so out of reach, like it no longer belonged to him. But then again, it never had felt like his when he lived here. It was always, and always would be Maya Hart's city, and he would forever be the tourist.

"Friar!" he heard his name and looked up as he came around the corner of baggage claim. It was Tim. And who was that with him? It was Farkle. His heart went out to them after two years of being apart. He met Farkle halfway in a strong embrace and both their muscles relaxed.

"Good to see you again, Freak." Farkle murmured.

"Good to be back." Lucas breathed and knew that he meant it. He stepped back and smiled at Tim. "Still getting detentions?" he joked.

"They get lonelier when you're not there to back me up." Tim laughed as they shook hands. "I already feel better knowing you're here."

"How's Zay?" Farkle asked as they made their way out to parking garage.

"He's great. He and Vanessa just bought a house out in Waco and own some land. He says it's a dream come true." Lucas remembered the email he'd gotten from Zay. He was relieved to hear that everything was working out for his old friend. "I think he's planning a trip back here soon."

"I'll have to make sure he visits for at least a week." Farkle chuckled. "Riley won't stop badgering me about getting him back up here."

"Of course she won't." Lucas snickered. "How is she? How's the baby?"

"Excellent." Farkle beamed proudly. "She struggles with nausea and she's been pretty tired, but she's so happy. And Maya," Lucas froze at the name, "is already trying to name the thing."

"She got me hooked on the bet." Tim spoke up.

"The bet?" Lucas asked. Farkle rolled his eyes.

"For the gender. Maya is convinced it's a girl. Not that she would have any way of knowing." Farkle sighed. "But she's rolling in the bets and is expecting a wad of cash at the end of all of this."

"Sounds like her."

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"They're on their way." Riley read the text to Maya that Farkle had sent. "They should be here in around twenty minutes."

"Great." Maya was a mess. She hadn't slept at all the night before at Riley's place and now that she was back at her flat, she had been running around, cleaning, responding to mail, and stressing over seeing Lucas again. She wasn't ready for this.

"It will be fine." Riley promised. "You just need to keep an open mind and try your hardest. No one said you two have to be best friends. You just need to live in accord for the time being. I know you can handle that."

"Glad one of us believes in me." Maya flopped down on the couch only to get up again and begin to pace. "Did I put enough pillows on the guest bed?" she ran through her mental checklist.

"The pillows are fine." Riley reassured steadily and let her hand come to rest on her stomach, a habit she had recently taken up. Maya stopped talking when Riley did that.

"Do you need some ginger ale?" Maya offered meekly, feeling bad for not being more aware of Riley and the baby. "I think I have some in the fridge."

"I'm fine." Riley shook her head and got up from Maya's chair. "I'm just worried for you. I want this to work out. I want to know you'll be safe and I want to sleep well at night knowing he's here to protect you."

"Well, soon you can."

"And I don't want you doing anything stupid. Maya," Riley took her best friend's hand emphatically, "please let him do his job. He's here for a reason. I know you don't like it and it seems a little much, but do it for me. It makes me feel so much better when I know you won't try anything."

"Riles," Maya patted her hand, "I don't like the situation. But I'm not stupid. He's here for work and so am I. I'll let him do whatever and I won't stop him."

"Thank you." Riley breathed deeply. The doorbell rang. "That must be them." Maya stiffened and squeezed Riley's hand before letting it drop. "I'll get it." Riley offered.

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He saw the shock of blonde hair even before he noticed Riley who had answered the door. Farkle stepped in, wrapping his wife in his arms and kissing her on the head. Then Tim stepped in, greeting Riley and setting a few things on the kitchen counter. Lucas stepped into the flat and closed the door gently behind him. She was across the room, by the giant ceiling to floor window in a chair. She was watching the rain fall outside. She hadn't looked up.

"Lucas." Riley's voice snapped his eyes to the brunette as she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him affectionately. "It's so good to see you."

"Hey, Riley." Lucas hugged her back, then released her so he could look at her. A baby bump hadn't appeared yet, but there was a different glow about her that he suspected was the excitement of her package.

"You haven't changed a bit." Riley smiled fondly.

"Neither have you." Lucas nodded. "Except for…" he motioned to her stomach and she laughed quietly. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." Riley leaned into the arm that Farkle put around her shoulder and then the group all turned as he looked over at Maya. She was watching all of them with an unreadable expression on her face. She rose stiffly from her chair.

"Hey," Lucas didn't know what to call her. He wanted to say Shortstack, but didn't know if that would offend her.

"Hey," Maya rasped, "Huckleberry." He relaxed when she used his nickname. She wasn't going to yell at him at least. Well, not yet anyway.

"How've you been?" he asked tentatively as he approached her cautiously.

"Well…" she looked around and then down at her feet. "All things considered…"

"Right." Tim spoke up. "Let's talk about all this now." And the moment was broken and Lucas' eyes snapped away from Maya and she sat back down. Everyone congregated in the living room with the two, on chairs or the couch and settled in to hear Tim. "So about arrangements."

"I'm here to keep Maya safe." Lucas spoke up. "Riley?" he got her attention. "You don't have to worry anymore." He read her mind. She nodded quietly. Then he looked to Maya. "And you don't either. I'm not going to let anything happen to you again." Maya just nodded and looked down at her hands sitting limply in her lap.

"So, it's been decided that Lucas will stay here in the guest room with Maya." Tim began.

"It's my paint room." Maya spoke up and everyone looked to her. She looked at Lucas rigidly. "I put a bed in there, but you're sharing with my art."

"That's fine." Lucas nodded.

"Yes, it is." She replied and Riley coughed slightly and motioned for Tim to continue quickly before Maya could say anything else. He caught the drift and looked back to his list.

"Alright Maya, here's the expectations the chief has for you: Lucas will drive everywhere with you. Any car trips you take, you need him to accompany you. Any person you meet up with has to have been cleared by him. All your food products will be purchased by him. You are not allowed to lock your bedroom door at night. You are to always have the front door and all windows locked at all times. Lucas is not required to stay with you at work, but you are required not to leave your work premises until you are with him. No lunch breaks without him, no walking home. Clear?" Maya nodded solemnly. "All the other smaller requests are written on the sheet you signed yesterday." Tim explained. Then he looked over to Lucas. "And here are your instructions, besides the ones in the debriefing folder," Tim nodded to the folder in Lucas' hands that he had received in the car. "You are to never have a situation where you do not know where Maya is. Anything suspicious needs to be reported to us. You are able to keep her from doing anything that proves dangerous to her health, nothing else. Clear?"

"Crystal." Lucas agreed.

"That's the only thing I have for you." Tim explained and rose. So did Farkle and Riley. "The rest of the stuff is on the papers you each have. I suggest you read them over thoroughly. Any problems, call us first before your friends. Drop by the station tomorrow, both of you, go over some stuff."

"Sure." Lucas nodded and stood as Tim waved goodbye and left. Riley and Farkle stood by the door and began to get their coats on.

"Be safe." Farkle advised.

"Don't let anything happen to her." Riley pleaded with him.

"Don't provoke her." Farkle whispered.

"She just needs to warm up to you." Riley assured him.

"Call if she's abusing you." Farkle clapped him on the back.

"And whatever you do, don't let her out of your sight." Riley ordered and they breezed out the door, leaving the flat cold and silent. Maya stood up as soon as they left and walked to the counter.

"I have some conditions of my own." She spoke calmly and confidently. He was surprised. She had seemed very nervous at first.

"I'm all ears." He replied, slightly amused.

"Don't bother me when I'm painting." She ordered. "Which means that while I'm in that room, it isn't your bedroom, it's my studio. So you find somewhere else to be."

"Of course."

"And don't drink any of the wine without asking me." She added. "It's special." He almost laughed at how protective she was of things. "Don't sit in my chair, don't leave the toilet seat up, don't use my razor ever, I get first showers, don't touch the quilt on the couch, no music playing unless it's first approved by me. I hate your stupid country junk."

"I'm aware." He crossed his arms and watched her, more amused by the moment.

"You buy the food I want, since I can't buy my own. Don't talk to me when I'm on my period. I'll leave my grocery lists taped to your door. I stay up late so don't ask me to be quiet in the evening. Don't make noise in the morning cause I sleep in. I know you're here to do your job, but you're still a guest in MY house. And what I say, goes. You will accommodate me."

"Yes, ma'am." Lucas tipped his imaginary hat at her and she growled under her breath. "Mind if I unpack." He paused. "Or is there some rule about that too?"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Maya groaned as she cracked her eyes open. Her curtains were drawn closed but she could still feel the daylight warming her under her duvet. She felt around on her sidetable for her phone and clicked it on. It told her it was eight in the morning. That couldn't be right. It was a Sunday. Why was she awake? She never woke up this early. And then she became aware of the smell that was coming from the kitchen. And she remembered she was no longer living alone. She grumbled a curse at Lucas and flung herself out of bed.

When Lucas saw Maya come stomping into the kitchen, he couldn't help but smile. Her hair was a mess and she was wearing boy shorts and a long sleeve shirt with a polar bear on it. She was rubbing the sleep dust from her eyes and she looked miffed.

"What do you think you're doing?" she stopped in the living room and watched him flip a pancake with flourish. "Do you realize how early it is?" Lucas looked at the clock.

"It's eight." He couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

"Yeah." Maya gave him a look. "It's the weekend. I don't get up until at least noon." Lucas sighed in defeat. He had a feeling he would be getting a lot of things wrong in the next few days. He had forgotten how much of a late riser Maya was. Apparently that hadn't changed.

"I made breakfast." He announced and he plopped two blueberry pancakes onto a plate and added two sausage links on the side and set it at a place at the counter. She eyed him warily.

"Do you always make food like this?" she asked as she walked up to the counter, pulled a bar stool out and sat down, letting the food win this time. He passed her the powdered sugar as he served himself.

"Like what?"

"I mean, I just usually have coffee and cereal." She shrugged, still trying to wake up.

"That reminds me," Lucas reached behind him and passed her the French press full of coffee. "Ladies first."

"How did you know where everything was?" she asked as he sat down next to her and poured his own coffee. He loved the way she sat, her legs crossed up under the counter, making her look even shorter than ever.

"I had time. I was up around six this morning." He explained.

"And why on earth would you do that to yourself?" she questioned through a mouthful of pancake.

"I have to be at the station by five normally," he mentally patted himself on the back for how good the sausage was, "I guess I just got used to early mornings."

"I could never do that." She shook her head adamantly.

"You go to work." He reminded.

"Yeah, at seven. Not five. And seven is already pushing it." She had drained her coffee and only had half a pancake and a sausage link left and he knew before long those would be gone too. Maya had a big appetite.

"So," Lucas began to discuss as he cleared her dishes for her and clean the kitchen, "what are your plans for today?"

"Well," Maya slipped off the stool and went to the big window and looked out, "I was thinking that we could go by the station first to meet up with Tim. Then I was thinking I needed some new paints so I wanted to swing by the craft store. Maybe stop for some coffee on the way. Then head over to my mom's for a visit."

"Where's the craft store?" Lucas asked as he loaded the dishwasher.

"Brooklyn." Maya flopped lazily into her chair. "That's the only one that has anything good."

"Got it." Lucas nodded and came to sit down on the couch. "So when do we leave?" he checked his watch. Maya rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh. "What?"

"Just you." She stood and looked him over. "Not everything needs to be timed you know. It's a trip to the craft store. I'll go when I'm ready." And with that she flounced back to her room to get dressed, leaving Lucas shaking his head and chuckling.

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"You are officially the scariest driver ever." Lucas now knew why airbags had been invented. For Maya Hart. "You're lucky I'm not a street cop anymore or I'd probably have to give you eight different tickets."

"Oh shut up." Maya revved her car through a yellow light with force. "I get where I need to go. That's what counts."

"Until one day you don't show up where you're going because you're dead." Lucas retorted as she flew into the Lincoln Tunnel over to New Jersey to visit her mom.

"Chill." Was her curt reply. He gave up the argument and tried to believe they would be alive at the end of this trip. He rested his head back against the seat and sighed. He was exhausted. The time change had affected him and he was still slightly in shock after having seen everyone yesterday. He checked the side mirrors of Maya's car and then the rearview mirror, making sure Maya didn't seem him do it. One thing he had learned about witness-protection was that the witness often got antsy or angry even if they noticed all the work you did. He wanted to make this situation as painless as possible for Maya. Though she hadn't admitted it to him, both Tim and Riley had told him that she had terrible nightmares and was often scared to be alone. So he couldn't be there for her all those years ago. But he could be there for her now. "Hey!" Maya socked his shoulder hard and he snapped to attention.

"What?" he jumped and looked around, eyes wide.

"I said, we're here." She raised her eyebrows as he looked over the house they had pulled up at. So this is where the Hunter family resided now. He smiled slightly at the idea of seeing Shawn and Katy again. He had missed their faces.

"Will I be intruding?" he asked as he got out of the car and Maya shoved a dish of macaroni casserole into his arms to carry.

"Most likely." She called out as she shuffled up to the house. He sighed and followed her, knowing that she wanted me to come even though she had just piled on the guilt. That was how Maya was. You followed her, whether she said she wanted you to or not. Chances are that you following is what she wanted all along. Unfortunately, he hadn't done that after they graduated. And she hadn't forgotten.

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"Thank you for dinner." Lucas thanked Katy as everyone had almost finished their meal. "It's been a while since I've had as good a home cooked meal as this."

"I've been practicing." She smiled over at Shawn and he snickered.

"You came at a good time." He leaned across the table to talk to Lucas. "She was burning everything she touched a few weeks ago." Katy playfully hit his shoulder and got up to get dessert.

"The casserole was good, Maya." Lucas complimented Maya's dish.

"I found the recipe in the newspaper." She explained. "What did you think?" she asked Shawn.

"I liked it a lot." He nodded and she smiled. "Maybe a little more salt next time?"

"Next time you can cook it." She ran a hand through her hair. "I've decided that cooking isn't really my thing."

"She's too lazy." Katy added as she placed a plate of cranberry cheesecake on the table and began to serve pieces out.

"I'm too busy." Maya corrected.

"Except now you have a growing boy in your house to feed. I imagine you'll be cooking more." Katy sat down and took a bite of cake.

"He's fending for himself." Maya answered before Lucas could. "Plus, Mom, he's not growing anymore."

"I cook pretty well for myself, Ma'am." Lucas piped up and Maya rolled her eyes. She just knew he was going to bring up breakfast. "I made us breakfast this morning."

"Oh, I heard." Katy smiled. "Maya texted me told me it was so delicious and that she-" she stopped when Maya began to motion dramatically to shut up and Lucas began to laugh. "Was I not supposed to say that?"

"Thanks, Mom." Maya looked down at her cake.

"You could've just said thank you." Lucas smiled at Maya and she glared daggers back at him. "Like a normal person."

"Yeah yeah." She waved off the idea that she would ever be grateful to anyone, at least openly grateful.

"So you're getting settled in alright?" Katy turned to Lucas. "How did you sleep?"

"Not too well." Lucas admitted. "Time change and all."

"Yes of course." She nodded her understanding.

"So Friar, how's your mom?" Shawn asked. "Is she feeling any better?"

"Not much." Lucas explained. "We have a lady living in with us now to take care of the things I can't. But she's just as happy and was very excited for me to be back with all my friends again." Lucas watched as Maya frowned, dropped her fork, and picked up her plate and quickly took it to the kitchen. He didn't address it, but stored it in the back of his mind to ask her about later.

"Yes, we are all so blessed to have you around now to take care of her." Katy took the opportunity of Maya being out of earshot to thank Lucas. "I know she'll feel much safer with your presence in the house."

"I hope so. Right now she doesn't seem to thrilled." He chuckled drily.

"She'll adjust." Shawn promised. "This whole thing has been pretty hard on her. She's not exactly sure where she's going."

"But I know she is glad to have you." Katy added. "She always feels so much more stable with you."

"Ranger Rick." Maya's voice was brisk. He looked up and saw her standing in the kitchen doorway, casserole dish in hand. "Let's go."

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"Seven fifteen I leave the house." She explained as she curled up in her chair with a book.

"I'll be ready." Lucas promised and resumed reading over the case file that Tim had provided him with. "What are you reading?" he asked but Maya didn't respond. She was already immersed in it and he knew that she wouldn't be letting him disturb her. He looked back down at his papers. About thirty minutes later she snapped her book shut and set it down on the arm of her chair. She stood and stretched, then shuffled to the kitchen, got a glass of water and swallowed it quickly. "Going to bed?" Lucas asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Soon." She sighed and sat back down in her chair, but didn't pick her book back up. She languidly swung her legs, then stopped, dropped her legs back to the floor, stood and walked the few steps to the window. She peered down into the street and watched with interest the rainy weather and the people with umbrellas and coats. It would be a beautiful picture to paint. "Quick!" she cried, scaring Lucas into jumping up and scattering his papers everywhere.

"What?" he cried.

"Grab my easel and brushes! I have to start on this before I forget it!" she waved her hands in the air frantically as she grabbed her paint smock out of the closet and began to tie her hair up. She had reminded herself that the way she always created her best work was with spontaneity. So she was going to paint this picture. Right then. No matter how late she had to stay up.

"Here." Lucas came rushing out with her easel and a can full of brushes. "Is this the stuff?"

"Now my paint!" she ordered and he sighed and turned back to the studio to grab more materials. "Hurry!"

"Yeah yeah." He came back with the paint she wanted and she pulled up her stool and got to work. Lucas was peeved at first for her scaring him into thinking something had happened, but eventually he lost his frustration in the interest he took in watching her paint. The gentle strokes, the way strands of her hair fell down around her face and how she'd hum songs he hadn't heard in ages when she was thinking over what to do next. After a while she order him to bring coffee and to pull her hair back again and then to sit and mix colors she needed. By two in the morning she had gotten a good start to it and mostly was done except for some filling and drop shadows to finish. She sat back on the stool and brushed her hands on her smock.

"Alright. Coffee is wearing off. I need a shower." She cracked her back, then waddled to the bathroom. "Don't wait up." She called before shutting herself in the room and leaving Lucas by himself to look at the work she had done. It was gorgeous. There was no other way to describe it. She had capture in a few hours what people saw every day, yet she had drawn attention to every detail, making it like a whole new experience. He had never looked at a rainy evening like this before.

Maya came out of her shower and found Lucas sitting and looking at her work half an hour later. She smiled to herself, leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed her arms.

"Museum's closed." She joked and he turned around quickly.

"Sorry, it's good." He apologized and began to collect his papers to head to bed.

"Not my best, though." She walked back over to the easel, her bathrobe swishing around her thighs. She surveyed the painting one last time and nodded to herself. "Well I have my work cut out for me. I know just what to start on after work tomorrow."

"Glad to hear it." Lucas replied. Maya turned and a new expression crossed her face. He saw her eyes darken and knew what was coming next.

"What are you still doing up?" she questioned. "I don't like to be bothered when I paint." She huffed even though she had been completely fine with his company, had put him to good use, when she was actually painting. Only after she could see the whole thing did she realize she might have actually let him in for a few hours.

"Just heading to bed now." He held up his hands in defense. "Night, Ma'am." He tipped his imaginary hat to her and she growled. He held up his hands again before scurrying quickly back to his room before she could accuse him of something else. Though the bed was comfortable, and the blankets warm, he was still awake in the night to hear Maya sitting up in bed and sketching, until about six in the morning, when her pencil finally grew quiet and her heavy breathing carried through the heating vents. Only then did he let sleep take him.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Sure enough, when Lucas woke up, he heard the beginning strains of Maya's soft morning voice coming from her room as she got dressed. Waking up in the studio to the smell of pencils and paper and the faint light sliding through the blinds was already beginning to feel normal to him. Lucas pulled himself out of bed, slid into a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt and mentally prepared himself for the first real day on the job. Today he'd meet Maya's coworkers, see her workplace, and see the scene of the second shooting.

"Huckleberry!" he heard Maya holler from the kitchen. "Hurry up! Unlike high school, I don't skip work!" he chuckled to himself and hustled out to the kitchen to find her sliding a protein bar into her purse. Her hair was curled and pulled into a half ponytail. She wore short boots with a slight heel that were beige. Her leggings were a dark red covered by a tunic that was grey with a beige belt. Her lips were red to match the pants. He froze at the sight. She looked so grown up. So put together. What had he missed? "What?" she stopped drinking her mug of coffee and gave him a look.

"How'd you sleep?" he brushed her question away and poured himself a quick bowl of cereal. He already knew the answer and just wanted to see the answer she'd give him.

"Well enough." She responded casually. He decided not to pursue the topic that morning, but to save it for a time when they actually had time to focus on the fact that she couldn't go to sleep without having a nightmare of some kind. She downed the rest of her coffee, fingered her keys and reached for her jacket.

"Perfect timing." He dropped his bowl in the sink and followed her out the door, making sure it was locked behind them. "You locked all the windows right?" he asked as they headed for the stairs.

"Always do."

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"Morning, Kate." Maya stepped into her office, reminding herself to keep calm and work efficiently and soon enough the day would be over.

"Hey." Kate greeted her, her eyes going uneasily to the door where Lucas stood. "Um, who's that?" she asked as she set a clipboard down on Maya's desk.

"This is Lucas." Maya waved in his general direction. "He's my…an old friend." She decided on his disposition. "He just came up to meet a few people and then he's going shopping for me." She hinted, and locked eyes with him to see if he had seen enough of her office to clear her for the day of work. He glanced around her office once more, then nodded subtly to her.

"Have a nice day." He tipped his imaginary hat to her and she rolled her eyes.

"Don't forget the list!" she called after him as he walked down the hall. "I put it-"

"On the rearview mirror, yeah I saw!" he called back and disappeared into the elevators. Maya sighed in defeat, left without a car, and no longer free to go where she chose. One thing hadn't changed since high school: she hated being confined. And usually she did something about it regardless of the consequences. Except this time, it wasn't a matter of detention. It was a matter of life or death.

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Lucas had never known Maya to be a particularly organized person. But he expected that since her life was being disturbed beyond measure, she was clinging to some form of control. Her grocery list was precise. And he knew that if he didn't get exactly what she wanted and the exact quantity of it, she wouldn't let him hear the end of it. He perused the aisles of Fred Meyers looking for the 1% milk Maya had insisted on.

"None of that fatty stuff. But I don't want it watery either!" she had said. He sighed as he added the half gallon of milk to the cart. He had only recently gotten into the practice of shopping for his mother and even then, Charlotte did most of it. He couldn't understand the prices and the bargains and what food was best and why stores would sell things that weren't good and how one brand was better than another. But Maya had spent around twenty minutes explaining the importance of the name brands and how the store brands would be cheaper. He was getting a headache.

By the time he had packed all the groceries into the car and was driving back to pick Maya up from work, he decided that he'd be taking a long nap when they got home. However, that didn't seem to be Maya's line of thinking. When he pulled up in front of the building, making a parking spot instead of finding one, like a true New Yorker, she was waiting at the doors for him. She pushed one open like she was about to walk out but he held up a hand to stop her. She crossed her arms in defiance, but waited. He got out of the car, let his eyes sweep the perimeter as he walked up the steps to get her. As soon as he reached the door, she was out and walking right beside him.

"A little extreme, don't you think?" she asked as he opened the car door for her.

"Just doing my job." He replied as he slid in behind the steering wheel. She had no response to that and just stared ahead of her. Until he started to drive home. Then she protested.

"No, not home." She spoke up. He internally groaned.

"What? Why?"

"I wanted some coffee." She explained and motioned him to pull into the Starbucks that was coming up on their left. He jerked the car into the area and headed for the drive thru. She nodded her approval and leaned back and closed her eyes. Coffee and a nice, quiet evening at home sounded just about perfect.

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Lucas was bored out of his mind. He looked up from his third night of paperwork across the room to Maya where she was curled up in her big chair, coffee right next to her, her glasses on, and her sketchbook and pencils in hand. He would rather watch her, but every time he let his eyes linger, she'd feel his gaze and immediately frown. He could tell that she was still getting used to another presence always so close.

"Riley wants to know if we'll go over there for dinner tomorrow night." Maya announced, reading her text from her phone. Lucas slipped his briefcase off the couch and considered her.

"If you want to, as long as I clear the area, it should be fine." He nodded. She sighed in defeat and brushed a strand of hair from her face. He could see she was on edge. She got up to take her mug to the kitchen, and as she walked past, he caught her arm with his intense reflexes and stopped her. She froze as he stood to tower over her. "What's this?" he turned her arm over gently and looked at the fresh lines on her skin. She quickly rolled the sleeve of her sweater down and slipped her arm out of his grasp.

"The glass." She mumbled and ducked into the kitchen. He watched her figure retreat and sat back down gloomily. One of these days Maya Hart was going to come out of her bedroom surrounded by walls on all sides. And no one, not even Riley would be knocking those walls down. Those walls that they had all spent years tearing down to build gardens and let the light in for her. And now they were back, all because of him. How could he ever forgive himself for ruining a soul like Maya Hart?

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He woke to the sound of pounding on the door. For a moment he thought it was Maya warning him that she'd be late to work, but then he remembered that if he was late, she would have just left even though she wasn't supposed to. He looked at the clock by his bed. It was two in the morning. He sat up quickly. Who would come to the apartment at two? If Maya was expecting anyone, she hadn't said a word about it. His heart clenched momentarily at the thought that Maya might have had a few night visitors over the years if she had wanted them. She could've had thousands with those eyes of hers. Her figure, that hair, and her heart…so big to the lucky ones she opened it to…

"Lucas?" Maya stood, a shadow in his doorway. He threw the covers back and got up. "Who's at the door?" he grabbed his gun off the sidetable and her saw her eyes widen.

"I'm going to go check." He whispered. "Right now I want you to go hide in your closet, ok?" Maya nodded and slipped back into her room. Lucas tip toed down the hall, around the corner, and up to the peep hole in the front door. He put his arm on the door as a brace and very carefully let his eye glance over the hole. The hall was lit, but he saw no one. Now he was at a crossroads. He could go back to bed and assume that it had been a coincidence, or he could assume that this was an attempt to draw Maya out of her flat and into the hallway where a shooter had a clear firing range. He decided it was the second option. He threw the door open and stepped out into the hallway, gun at the ready. There was no one. He stepped back into the apartment and locked the front door. Maya peered around the wall.

"Lucas?" she was using his real name and he knew she was afraid. Her voice was small and shaking. "What was it?"

"I'm going to do a sweep of this floor." He explained. Maya's eyes glazed over in fear.

"Please don't…" her voice faded off before she could finish her sentence. She crossed her arms in discomfort and he almost smiled. Almost.

"I can stay if you're scared." He offered. She shook her head quietly.

"I'm fine, Stupid." She shrugged. He nodded and grabbed a kitchen knife out of the rack, passing it to her. "First thing tomorrow, I'm teaching you how to shoot my gun." He decided and she took the knife without a question, clutching it until her knuckles were white. It killed him to see her like that, holding a kitchen knife as he left. What had happened to middle school?

"Lock the door." He ordered, his voice now steely. She just nodded. He took one last look at her, her hair falling out of its bun, the strands curling down her pale cheeks. Her short legs, framed by the cream colored robe she wore over her pajama tank top and shorts. He could've almost sworn he heard her say,

"Be careful," as he shut the door behind him, but he decided it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He heard the bolt slide into place after he left and he proceeded down the hall.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

"It was too close for comfort." Lucas ran a hand through his hair in distress as he explained to Tim what had happened the night before. Tim sat solemnly behind his desk and listened, every now and then jotting down a note. Lucas had dropped Maya off at work reluctantly that morning and he had noticed that she didn't complain when he walked her to her office again and even checked around her level some, smiling and nodding to her coworkers who were slowly getting used to his presence, though none of them were really sure how he knew her.

"And you swept the entire floor?" Tim clarified.

"The whole thing. Twice." Lucas nodded. "Nothing out of place. And when I came back, Maya was still there, standing where I'd left her. She hadn't seen or heard a thing while I was gone."

"Could it have been a mistake?"

"I thought it must have been at first, but what kind of mistake would that be? It couldn't be mail, and if someone messed up the address, they would be next door. The hall was empty."

"So then what do you think?" Tim tilted back in his chair with a sigh.

"Personally, I think it could have been an attempt to draw her out of her flat and into the hall." Lucas voiced his opinion aloud.

"I was thinking the same thing." Tim agreed. "Unfortunately, with you sweeping the building, whoever was there had a good chance of seeing you."

"Whoever is after her knows I'm with her by now, I'm sure of it." Lucas shook his head in defeat. "There just really is no good way around this. I guess even with me here now, nothing is gonna stop them from getting at her."

"Trust me, it's helping." Tim promised. "If you aren't discouraging them from attempting anything, then you're a comfort to Maya. I can see it in her face."

"Yeah well, that's nice to know." Lucas chuckled. "She doesn't happen to say things like that to me."

"Is it really that bad?" Tim smiled in amusement. "So the girl really can hold a grudge."

"She's the most stubborn person I've met in my life."

"Well, if anyone can handle stubborn, it's you." Tim reminded him.

"I'm at my wits end with that girl." Lucas replied in exasperation. "All she does is bite my head off for the things I do wrong and then when I do something right, she's either asleep or painting. I keep making all these gestures, but she just keeps pretending like I'm not even there." He threw his hands up in defeat. "Was Amy ever like that with you?"

"You have to remember," Tim began, "that it's not like she invited you to come live with her. You two were kind of forced into this situation together. So she's probably trying to cling to last pieces of normality her life might hold at the moment."

"I'm trying to at least be civil. I mean, we were best friends. So why is she acting like she wants my entire time here to be us as strangers to each other?"

"You left." Tim shrugged.

"Yeah, but I won't do that to her again!" Lucas stood up and walked across the room to look out the window. "I messed up. I know that. I told her that. I apologized."

"And now you're back."

"Now I am." Lucas nodded. "So why can't she see that I came back for her? For all these years I've been gone, she hasn't changed a bit! She's still just as scared as when I knew her before. She's always been scared! And the worst part is, she's scared, but she won't admit it! So no one can help her!"

"What is she scared of?" Tim asked.

"She's scared of opening up to people that will leave." Lucas spoke the words, then paused. "And I left. So I basically made her worst nightmare come true." Tim whistled in surprise. "And her dad left, but she forgave him!"

"Did you ever think that maybe she cared about you more than her father?" Tim suggested and as soon as the words fell from his lips, Lucas knew it was true. "The more upset people get when someone leaves, the more that person meant to them."

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"You didn't have to come tonight." Riley told Maya as she took her friend's coat and hung it on a hook by the door.

"Why wouldn't I?" Maya asked as Lucas stepped into the condo behind her.

"Well what with the stuff last night-" Riley began and Maya turned to Lucas, eyes narrowed.

"I told you not to tell her." Maya grumbled. "I told you she would worry for nothing."

"She needs to be aware of the danger as much as you and me." Lucas explained for maybe the thousandth time as Maya rolled her eyes and kicked the door shut behind her. "Anything suspicious around here?" Lucas asked Farkle as he appeared from the kitchen.

"No concerns." He shook his head and Lucas mentally breathed a sigh of relief. At least Riley and Farkle were safe so far. He was still worried about Maya. She had asked him to pick her up early from work and he noticed that she hadn't wanted to be left alone like she usually did when they were at the apartment.

"What's for dinner?" Maya asked as she flopped down on the couch.

"Spaghetti." Riley announced as she hurried to the kitchen to check on the food.

"How's the baby?" Lucas asked Farkle, smiling.

"Everything is great. She hasn't been feeling as sick lately." Farkle explained. "She's been loving the shopping part."

"Do you guys still want it to be a surprise?" Maya asked.

"That's what Riley wants." Farkle nodded.

"I can't wait to see the scrawny thing." Maya scoffed fondly and Lucas momentarily was taken back years to the Maya he remembered. "I bet it will have just the longest legs."

"Dinner!" Riley hollered as she set a napkin at each place at the table. "Come sit!"

"Where's my phone?" Maya groped at her pockets, and found nothing.

"Did you bring it?" Lucas asked as she stood up.

"Yes." She glared at him and he decided to just let it alone. She was in a bad mood and apparently he wasn't helping. "I must have left it in the car." She muttered. "Shoot."

"Maya, come eat." Riley pointed to a chair.

"Hold on, I'm gonna run and grab my phone." Maya fingered her car keys and opened the front door. Lucas grabbed his jacket. "What are you doing?" Maya turned back to look at him.

"Coming with you." Lucas replied as he slid his arms into the coat. She frowned even deeper.

"I'm just running to the car. I think I can handle that." She raised her eyebrows. "Or do you think I'm not capable of that either?"

"Maya," Lucas frowned in confusion, "this isn't about you being incapable. It's about-"

"Just, save it." She stopped him and stepped outside. He followed, shutting the door behind him.

"Way to make a scene in front of Riley and Farkle." He sighed as he followed her out of the open foyer and towards the parking lot.

"Me?" she cried and turned on him, both halting and facing the other. "This is your fault!"

"I'm just doing my job!" he retorted, offended. "Thanks to me, you aren't dead yet and all you do is complain!"

"Yeah because I worked my butt off so I didn't have to share my life with anyone ever again and now a decision that I wasn't even a part of was made that a person who ruined my life shares everything with me! Excuse me for not being happy!" she hissed.

"I didn't ruin your life." Lucas scoffed. "Please, Maya, that's extreme."

"Is it?"

"I know I upset you," Lucas sighed, "and I know that things didn't turn out the way you wanted, but why can't you just move on?"

"What you mean move on like you? Leave all the people who care the most about me?"

"Just because you're still upset that your dad left-"

"How dare you!" before either could move she reached out and slapped him hard across the cheek. Both of them fell silent. He heard her take a shaky breath. "My dad was completely different. I was mad because he ruined my mom's life. I'm mad at you because you ruined mine."

"Just because you can't over the fact that I have a life doesn't mean you get to take it out on me."

"I have a life!" she cried. "I am making this city a better place."

"You aren't happy!" Lucas cried back, throwing his hands in the air.

"How would you know?"

"I know you, Maya Hart. I left, but I know you. Whatever happened to all those big plans you had for your life?"

"They left on the plane with you!" she screamed and turned and walked across the lot. He watched the trail of breath that showed in the night air and then saw the car. It was coming around the corner too fast. And he just knew something was wrong.

"Maya!" he yelled, but she didn't turn around. "Damn, it Maya, move!" he yelled and raced at her. She turned around just as he reached her and the car was coming. He tackled her to the ground and she felt the air being crushed out of her. She gasped for breath. She heard the squeal of tires and gunshots, and only then did she realize that Lucas was no longer on top of her. She didn't know whether to get up or stay lying on the asphalt.

"Lucas?" she called weakly. No response. Then fear pulsed through her. What if he was hurt? "Lucas!" she called louder as she pushed herself to her knees.

"Maya!" Riley shrieked and raced over to Maya and knelt down, taking her friend in her arms. "Maya, what happened? Where's Lucas? Are you ok? Are you hurt?"

"Riley." Maya breathed. "Where's Lucas?"

"I'm here." Lucas' voice was husky and out of breath as if he was startled or shocked. Maya couldn't help it then, when Lucas squatted down in front of her and took her hands in his. "You ok?" she looked at him in confusion, then burst into tears.

"No." she whispered, tears running down her cheeks. Riley stiffened and brushed hair out of Maya's face. Lucas looked surprised at Maya's outburst.

"What, did I hurt you?" he asked, his face deepening in concern?

"I thought he shot you." Maya gasped. Lucas' jaw tightened in understanding. He dropped Maya's hands and stood. Farkle materialized next to him.

"What happened?" he asked.

"We need to get her to the police station." Lucas stared off into the distance. "The chief needs to hear about this. It's about time they started taking this case more seriously."

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"It was just a little blood." Maya protested as the station medic bandaged her raw palms up and began to inspect her ribs.

"Just be thankful I didn't make you go to the hospital. I'm breaking protocol by doing that." Lucas leaned in the doorway, filling out some paperwork. After being debriefed by Tim and the chief, he had taken Maya to get checked out. He had felt her body under his when he had tackled her and he knew there would be some temporary damage at least.

"Ouch." Maya grumbled when the medic pressed at one of her sides.

"Couple of bruised ribs." The medic turned and told Lucas.

"Oops." He winked at Maya and got a soft glared in return. He could tell she was still relieved he wasn't hurt. She had long stopped crying, but the same concern in her eyes was evident and it scared him to see her emotions so raw.

"It'll hurt when you sneeze and when you stretch, but other than the regular pain meds, there's nothing you can do. Icing might help, as do hot baths." The medic explained to her as she listened quietly. "If it's still painful so that it's causing problems with your everyday work in a month, then go to a doctor because it would likely be broken."

"And you'd be paying the doctor's bill." Maya slid off the exam table tentatively and looked over at Lucas.

"Gladly." He offered and led her out. Riley got up when she saw Maya come around the corner.

"Nothing broken?"

"He bruised my ribs." Maya frowned.

"He saved your life." Riley lowered her voice as Lucas walked over to exchange a few more words with Tim. "He said that car was going to run you over. You either would be squished or shot."

"I know." Maya stopped her, not wanting to think about the details. "And he could have been too. He shot at them? What was he thinking? He was being stupid."

"He was doing his job." Riley replied meekly and Maya stopped talking. He was doing his job. She was his job. Keeping her safe was his job. And here she was with bruised ribs, but she was alive, wasn't she? He had saved her life. And just after they'd been fighting. She owed him. Owed him big. And for those few seconds when she thought he might be dead, she hadn't known what to do.

"Tim says he wants you here a little longer." Lucas appeared next to her. She startled to attention.

"I want a bed." She muttered.

"Yeah, that makes two of us." He led her over to the line of waiting chairs and sat her down, then sat down next to her. "Riley, go home to Farkle. Maya and I will stay the night here and we'll call you in the morning when we know what we're doing." Lucas looked up at Riley.

"Keep her safe." Riley instructed and kissed Maya on the top of her head, then took her purse and hurried out of the station.

"We're staying the night?" Maya asked tiredly.

"Sorry, but I'm not trying to find us a safe place in the city." He replied. Maya sighed, closed her eyes sleepily and her head slowly slid down to rest on his shoulder. He stiffened, surprised at the display of dependency. She didn't say a word.

"You smell like pine trees." She said after a while.

"Why are you still awake?" he asked softly, letting his head fall back against the cold stone, but keeping his eyes open. He was going to have Maya sleep and he was going to make sure nothing happened to her while she rested.

"I'm thinking." She replied simply.

"About?"

"Our fight." She whispered.

"What about it?" his voice was deeper with the late hour.

"I didn't mean those things I said." She admitted.

"I know you didn't, Shortstack." His voice was slowly putting her to sleep. The warmth of his body and the rising and falling of his chest was the perfect lullaby.

"The truth is, I could never forgive you for leaving."

"Why not?" he asked softly and brushed some hair out of her face.

"When you left, you ruined every plan I had for us." She breathed out as if the words hurt. And then it hit him. He had been the big plans she had made. It was him. Them. Their friends. Maya had cared so much and he hadn't even paid attention. He had expected she would leave too, find a new life and forget about them all. But she was still here, watching over them all. And he had left, leaving her the job of moral compass.

"I'm sorry, Maya." And this time he knew what he was apologizing for, which made it the most sincere apology of all. "I should have made you a part of the decision."

"I've felt safer having you around."

"I thought you hated sharing." He chuckled lightly.

"I was scared. I didn't know what it would be like to have you back." She digressed. "But I knew from the moment I saw you again that I hadn't stopped caring. I wish I had. I wish I could have. But I couldn't. That's why I was so angry. Because you could move on and I couldn't."

"I had moved on from New York, Maya, but I hadn't moved on from you." Lucas finally realized aloud. He looked down at her when he said that and saw a small smile play across her lips.

"I didn't know you liked me that much."

"You're one of my best friends."

"Thank you for saving my life." Maya's voice grew hoarse and Lucas felt his eyes getting heavy.

"Go to sleep, Maya."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Tim sighed heavily as he let himself out of his office. It was six in the morning and he'd been looking over case files for hours. It was about time he got something to eat or at least drink and find out how Maya and Lucas were holding up. He turned the corner and looked down the hallway. All the seats were empty except two. A simple ray of the rising sun shone through the windows of the precinct doors, illuminating Maya and Lucas in the chairs. Her head had slid down to rest on his chest, her legs curled up on the seat with the rest of her body. His head was lying back against the stone wall, one hand resting over the gun in his pocket, the other resting protectively over her shoulder, barely touching her hair. Neither moved. They were asleep. He sighed. They had been there all night. And Lucas had complained for years about not having a girl to settle down with? Tim couldn't believe it. There was his girl right there.

"Lucas." Tim hated to wake his friends up, but it was time to use the daylight to their advantage. They'd need to go back over the scene of the crime and then discuss what they would do about further means of protection. "Lucas." He nudged Lucas' foot and the man stirred.

"What time is it?" he croaked.

"Almost six am. Wake her up. We've got a long day ahead of us." Tim nodded to Maya and then trudged off down the hall to find coffee.

"Maya." Lucas began to shift under the girl who was using him as a pillow. "Maya, wake up."

"Mm?" she yawned and began to stretch. He tried not to look as her top rode up and exposed the skin of her stomach. He helped her sit up. "Where are we?" she asked, disoriented.

"At the station. We spent the night here. How are your hands feeling?" he asked and she looked down at the bandages and everything that had happened slowly came back to her.

"They're not sore." She lied. "Just a few scratches." Lucas decided not to push it and didn't reply. He stood and stretched, then looked around at the few officers who were starting the station hopping again. "We need to get you some breakfast and then Tim wants us to come back with him to the condos where you fell to talk over a few things." Lucas explained, but all Maya could hear was the sexy, deep tone his morning voice took on. "Maya?"

"Yeah, ok, whatever." She stood up slowly, trying to regain feeling in her stiff limbs. "Breakfast sounds fine."

"Breakfast is here." Tim appeared and handed Lucas and then Maya a cup of lukewarm coffee. Maya began to gulp it down but Lucas just looked at Tim.

"What are you doing?" Lucas asked him.

"Come on, morning urchins. We need to get over to the condos." Tim grabbed his patrol car keys and jacket from his office and clicked off the light.

"Maya needs something in her system before I drag her around town for a day." Lucas pulled Tim aside and looked back at Maya, leaning wearily against the wall. "For goodness' sake, Tim, I nearly killed her yesterday. I have a feeling that if you pulled her shirt up she would be sporting some deep blue and purple marks. Those bandages are going to need to be changed, and she's probably dehydrated at least a little. The least you can do is let me get her something proper to eat before we go."

"We don't have the time." Tim replied with regret. He saw the same things in Maya that Lucas did. The girl was struggling, but she was also resilient. She could handle a few hours more. "It'll be better for her in the long run. We need to talk everything over while it's still fresh in your minds."

"Fine, but only a few more hours and then I'm taking her back home and she's staying there until I say she's well enough to leave." Lucas decided.

"I doubt she'll go for that, but I'm fine with that plan." Tim chuckled and headed for the doors.

"Where are we going?" Maya asked as Lucas approached her to lead her out after Tim.

"We're heading over to Riley's to talk a few more logistics out." Lucas didn't know how she'd respond to the idea. "Just a few more things, I promise, and then I can take you home and you can sleep in your own bed."

"Whatever." She shrugged. "I'm fine." He watched as she limped out the front doors and grimaced. She definitely wasn't fine, but right now, what other option was there than to find Maya's criminal? If they didn't start taking this seriously, she would be dead.

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"We need to go over exactly what happened the first time you were involved in all of this." Tim decided when the group was gathered around the Minkus' dining room table with cups of coffee and Maya was eating contentedly. "We're now assuming that every attempt on Maya's life is linked."

"Maybe now isn't the best time to-" Riley began but Lucas met her eyes and shook his head. They had to. And Maya knew it.

"It's fine, Riles." Maya spoke up as she took a drink of water. "You mean back at the subway?" Maya clarified with Tim.

"Yes." Tim nodded. "We need to revisit everything that was said by anyone in that situation. Every movement each person made. Any possible thing you can remember about that night I'm going to write down and lock it away. It's some of the best clues we'll be able to get our hands on as of now."

"When you say every move a person made, that's pretty hard considering everything that night was normal." Maya shrugged. "That's why it all happened so fast and I'm kind of foggy on it. It was only a matter of seconds."

"Start with when you arrived at the station." Tim requested and flipped open his pad of paper and clicked his pen open.

"I walked down the stairs and checked when the train would come." She remembered. "Then that lady came up and talked to me." She sighed.

"What lady?"

"She was like, middle age, and probably lonely. She just asked me the usual lady things. If I was married, where I was going, then she told me about her family. She was bored like I was. Unfortunately, she chose the wrong person to talk to because I don't really care about other people." Maya deadpanned. "So I walked over and sat down on a bench by myself. A homeless guy asked for money and I think I gave him some change or something."

"And then what?" Tim scribbled a few things down as Maya took another sip of water and tried to remember everything she could.

"And then there was some time where nothing happened. The next thing I remember was the lady screaming and the gunman was motioning us to the wall." Maya swallowed thickly and looked over at Lucas. His eyes fell on hers and he scooted his chair back and got up to pace in the living room. Maya looked back down at the table.

"We have your statement of what the gunman said." Tim explained. "And from what I can tell, our best lead is the short conversation he had with the business man you described and forensics confirmed."

"Yeah, I remember." Maya nodded. "The guy in the suit."

"Yes." Tim agreed. "What do you remember about that?"

"I just remember the guy saying he'd give the gunman what he wanted and not to hurt us." Maya squinted in concentration. "But the gunman kept saying that there were no second chances or something like that." She frowned. "I can't remember as well now."

"Well it's a good thing we took your statement down earlier." Tim closed the notepad and pushed his chair back. "Thanks for the coffee." He nodded to Riley and Farkle. "I'm gonna head back to the station." He walked over to Lucas. "I need to run this through the database and model of car you saw."

"I'm gonna take Maya back home." Lucas replied hoarsely.

"Do that. Make sure she's rested so she can hopefully help us start narrowing things down. We've decided to exhume the gunman's body and maybe that will give us a lead."

"Call me if anything comes up." Lucas agreed and motioned for Maya to get ready to go.

"You'll be safe, won't you?" Riley pleaded as Maya slid her jacket on.

"Riles, I have Lucas. We'll be fine." Maya promised. "I'll be extra careful."

"Take a hot bath. And make sure you take it easy on those hands. Put something on them when you take the bandages off." Riley instructed.

"Yeah, I will." Maya actually listened. Riley looked to Lucas who was looking at Maya protectively.

"No one will touch her." He promised. Riley nodded and Maya let the words run down her spine. Instead of getting angry at how dependent she was required to be, this time she let herself bask in the fact that she didn't have to go through this alone. She was safe with him. She always had been.

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"Here." As soon as he let them into the flat, he led her to the couch. "Sit here and I'll take those bandages off. But first I'm gonna have a look around." He explained as he handed her his coat. She took it without question and pulled her hair up into a messy bun and began to take her shoes off.

"Could you bring me my fuzzy socks?" she called to him. "They're on my bed."

"Sure." He replied, not letting his voice reveal the surprise he felt at her asking him to go into her room. From the time he had been there, he hadn't even set foot across the threshold and he knew that she kept the door shut for a reason. She had to share her flat, but she didn't have to share her room and she wasn't about to. After he finished sweeping the few rooms she owned, he backtracked to her bedroom and carefully clicked the door open. The walls were a pale shade of cream, almost white. It reminded him of the front room at the ranch. Maya would love all the windows there and the high-backed chairs. She could paint for hours at those windows he imagined. He looked around and took in the small, personal space. Though she had left most of her belongings at her mom's house, she still had made the room hers. A small chair stood in a corner with a pillow on it that he vaguely remembered her making in home ec class freshman year. Her dresser was a light lilac color with curved feet that raised it off the ground slightly. Her bed was covered in a fluffy duvet and lilac pillows. Her window was framed by cream curtains and her closet was built into the wall and was closed, probably hiding away the mess of clothes she always had. A few sketchpads were tossed on the dresser, some were on the sidetables by the bed. Pencils scattered the floor and a small mirror hung over the dresser with elegance and a simple touch to the calm demeanor the room presented. He imagined she must have spent a number of quiet nights in here. How many had she spent alone? He looked at the bed and found the pair of fuzzy socks she wanted. He also noticed the left side of the bed was rumpled and that pillow was slightly flatter. So the left side was hers. Had anyone ever occupied the right side? How much had he missed while he was away?

"Huckleberry, my feet are cold!" she hollered and he quickly left the room, closing the door behind him. Whatever secrets Maya kept in there had not been disclosed to him yet. And he didn't want to try to pry them out into the open before she did. That wasn't how he worked with her. He gave her the time she wanted and in return she reminded him that life was simpler than he thought.

"Your socks." He tossed them onto her lap and knelt down in front of her. "How are your hands?"

"Fine." She shrugged and held them out to him and he took them and began to undo the bandages. When they were off he grimaced slightly but she didn't seem affected.

"Not terrible." He decided. "There's a little fluid but that's just cleaning the wound out. It's not infected right now. I'll just put some stuff on it and then wrap them again. By tomorrow they'll be much better."

"If you say so." She sighed and let him fix her up quietly for the next twenty minutes. After he had applied a solvent and reapplied fresh bandages, she sat back and he sat down next to her on the couch.

"You should go to bed." Lucas suggested. "You can't have slept well last night."

"Do you think your mom will die?" Maya asked and he almost choked on the breath he was taking. This was a taste of the old Maya, speaking her mind, not caring whether or not it made the other person uncomfortable. "You don't have to answer that." She added when she saw the look on his face.

"No, no, sorry." He shook his head, trying to regain his speech. "I mean, yes, eventually she'll die. We're not really sure how much longer she has…" his voice trailed off and his eyes slipped to look out the window instead of at her face.

"Has it been hard?" she asked more softly this time.

"Yes." He choked. For some reason he could answer all these questions from family, coworkers, and even doctors without feeling a thing, but when Maya was asking, looking at him like that, he felt every emotion. "She's all I have left, really. Dad's been gone for a while now and Charlotte will leave as soon as Mom goes. Of course all the cousins are still around, but no one cares about the ranch like I do. If I stayed, I'd be alone." He admitted. She nodded quietly, then faced him more.

"You have us." He looked at her when she said that and saw that she was sincere. There were no tears in her eyes, thankfully, just simple, slight care. "Whatever happens, you'll always have us, and New York."

"Truthfully, New York isn't the same now that I've been back home for so long." Lucas stood and walked to the window. "I hate to say it, but it's true."

"I know what you're saying." She replied and he looked back at her with question in his gaze. She stood slowly and joined him at the window, watching people walk down the street. "It's lost the charm it held when we were younger."

"Texas is home."

"New York is my home, technically, but honestly, lately, I haven't really felt I belong to a place in a long time." She explained. She didn't sound sad, just straightforward. This was Maya Hart.

"You're living a lot of peoples' dream." Lucas reminded her. She sighed at that and crossed her arms.

"This may be someone's dream, but it isn't mine. I thought it was. I wanted success so badly as long as I can remember. But now that I have it, it's not as great as I thought."

"Then what do you want?" Lucas asked, curious.

"I want what Riley and Farkle have." Maya breathed out after a time. He froze.

"You want a husband?" he asked, shocked.

"Not necessarily." She elaborated. "I want the peace they have. They look out for each other and, yeah, they look out for me, but it's not the same. It's like they've accessed some unshakable happiness that I never can."

"Mm." Lucas listened carefully.

"I've been trying all my life to find contentment and so far I've come close at times, but is this where I want to look back and see myself? No." she answered her question.

"What do you want to see when you look back?"

"Joy. Pure, simple joy. I want to wake up and just…smile."

"Well, where are you going to look for your joy next?" Lucas wondered.

"I guess I don't know where to start." Maya admitted.

"Why not?"

"I don't really know how to smile for no reason."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

"House arrest!?" Maya was probably waking up China with her voice. "You can't be serious!"

"Look, Tim told me this is what Chief wants while we do some more investigating." Lucas replied. He was tired. The most tired he'd been in weeks. He was up every night, listening for any sound, listening for Maya to wake up screaming and he could never help. She would swear she didn't have nightmares and he was just imagining things.

"What about work?" she protested.

"Tim has arranged for you to work from home for the next week at least." Lucas handed her a file folder. "Kate gathered up your materials and everything you'd need and sent it here. So you're set."

"Far from it!" Maya snatched the folder from his hands. "This is ridiculous! I can't even go to the store?"

"I'll be shopping for you." Lucas sighed. The first time he'd shopped for her hadn't worked out so well and they both knew it.

"You guys can't just keep hiding me for the rest of my life." She stalked into the kitchen and poured herself another cup of morning coffee.

"They won't stop hunting you." Lucas gritted his teeth. "They've made that clear."

"Unless we kill them." She countered and stirred her coffee quietly as she collapsed into her chair by the window and traced the shadows across the window with her finger. "I've been thinking…" she began. Lucas sighed. This couldn't be good. "So far I've just been the cause of all your work and stress."

"Maya, please don't feel guilty. It's our job and-"

"Cool it." She stopped him. "I don't feel guilty. Well, not much. And anyway, that's not what I wanted to say. I was going to propose that I start carrying my own weight."

"What do you mean?" Lucas asked skeptically.

"I mean that I want to start helping you with the investigation." Maya replied confidently, arms crossed and eyes intent. Lucas didn't even have to think.

"No." he shook his head. "That's out of the question. Not only is that not witness-policy, it's completely reckless. You shouldn't get involved in something you're already getting targeted over."

"Maybe that's exactly why I should get involved." Maya retorted and stood. Lucas was surprised. She hadn't been this…collected in a while. "I'm so involved already. I could help. I could help you guys review case files and I could look through license plates and photos and help track down their patterns. You guys do the field work, I get that, and I want no part of it. But frankly, you are exhausted. Don't pretend you aren't, I see it. Fact of the matter is, you need me as much as I need you. I'm awake and perfectly lucid. While I'm stuck here, I can do all the desk work that Tim needs me to. And that will bring us one step closer to getting this whole thing under control."

"You have no idea what you're proposing."

"I don't." she admitted. "Maybe that's a good thing, though."

"I still say no. The most helpful thing you can do is keep yourself safe and out of sight right now."

"You won't even ask Tim?" Maya pleaded.

"I don't need to. I'm not letting you expose yourself to things that will make your nightmares worse. Research is a gory thing and I'm not about to sit there and watch you wreck your conscience."

"Well sorry, but you're here working for Tim." Maya grabbed the landline and began to dial. "So I'll just have to ask him and see what he thinks. Especially since you won't." she shrugged innocently. "Who knows? He might even say yes."

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"Friar, I had to." Tim said as soon as Lucas busted through his office door, eyes fiery.

"No, you didn't." Lucas growled and stalked to Tim's desk and planted his hands firmly on it. "There is no way you agreed to let Maya help research this case."

"I agree, it is not normally something that a witness should be doing, but we're in some extraordinary circumstances right now." Tim explained. "She offered to help the case, she's capable, and is the most involved. It could be extremely helpful."

"She wakes up screaming." Lucas winced and Tim frowned. "I can't promote that."

"You have no choice." Tim pulled the boss card and Lucas clenched his jaw. "I have agreed to let Maya help us and that's that."

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"The first thing I want is to do some research on the people at the first scene of crime." Maya decided when Riley had showed up with a box of donuts at the flat.

"Maya, the police have already done that."

"They didn't have enough time to focus so much on each person like I will." Maya explained. "I'm going to dig deep into each person's life and find out what brought them to the subway that night and everything else."

"I thought we were making best friend scarves." Riley held up two balls of yarn dejectedly.

"Sorry, Riles, but that's not on the agenda today." Maya patted the couch seat next to her and Riley sat down. "Here's all the information Tim could get me on the lady I was chatting with. He also included the numbers of the victims' families in case I want to go talk to them."

"This cannot be legal."

"It probably isn't." Maya agreed. "But neither is what these people are doing to me. Fight fire with fire, right?"

"Or just let the cops do their jobs." Riley suggested meekly. Maya frowned and slapped the file down on Riley's lap.

"I'm highlighting anything that stands out. You can start with the lady. I'm going to start with the businessman. He was the only one that had an actual conversation with the gunman which must mean something."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes." Maya nodded earnestly. "I had Lucas buy us some Oreos since I know you've been craving them lately." Maya added and Riley perked up.

"I guess I can stay for a while." She cracked a smile and Maya laughed. "So where is Lucas?" Riley asked at the mention of his name.

"Right here." Lucas grunted as he came out of the hallway carrying a big box of art supplies.

"What are you doing?" Riley asked, then looked at Maya. "What is he doing?"

"He's helping me set up all my easels and stuff in here." Maya explained. "I'm going to try to sketch everything I remember about each scene, before I forget anything more."

"I'm not happy about it." Lucas announced, setting the box on the floor. Maya rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for the Oreos." Riley smiled, her mouth already full of cookies.

"That baby is going to like Oreos." Maya laughed and opened the file on her lap. Lucas didn't say a word as he watched Riley open her file. Why had Tim let Maya see the files? Things could get ugly. Even more ugly then they already were. Maya could be putting herself and even more people in danger. And yet she was determined to be a part of the investigation. However, he had never expected her determination to shine through in her own police investigation. When he saw her dedication in middle school, this is not what he had envisioned for her future.

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Maya's shoulder ached as she dropped her paintbrush into a plastic cup to soak and wiped her hands on her smock. Lucas looked up from his laptop and watched her stare, dissatisfied with her artwork.

"How much more on that one?" Lucas let his eyes run over the likeness of the lady from the subway shooting. He had inspected the gun wounds in her body himself.

"A lot." Maya sighed in defeat. "I don't usually paint people in so much detail." She explained and her whole body sagged. "But I thought this might be helpful. Maybe I'm just wasting time." She thought out loud, then met Lucas' gaze. He was looking at her with an expression she couldn't read. "She had a family." The words left her lips before she could stop them.

"The lady?" Lucas clarified. Maya just nodded. He shifted his laptop off his lap and onto the couch next to him. He stood and walked quietly over to the easel she was sitting at. "You see her, don't you?" Maya stiffened at his words and her head tilted up to look at him, towering over her. His sea green eyes looked softly back at her with concern.

"I see them all."

"You don't sleep." He perceived. "I hear you, you know."

"How did you know?" she asked, surprised.

"Because it's my job to protect you. If you're not asleep, then I'm not going to sleep." He explained and watched as her gaze softened. "Maya, I want you to know that it's ok to be afraid, to be sad. You went through a traumatic experience. Multiple ones. You know it would be perfectly normal to be upset."

"And what?" Maya sighed and held up her hands gently in question. "Take pills? Find a therapist? Move in with Riley? All of that is for cowards."

"Maya, come on. You know you want help. It's easier when you just admit it." Lucas took a chance and exposed her. He watched her debate whether or not to throw up her walls and lock him out until the next time she softened, or maybe just let him in. She was tired of fighting everyone when she desperately needed them.

"I'm sorry I asked to be part of the case." She whispered, surprising Lucas.

"Why?" he was confused. He wasn't used to Maya apologizing.

"Cause I know it upset you. After all you've done. I should have listened to you." She decided. Lucas shook his head and eased himself down, letting his back rest against the window and looked up at her sitting in her chair.

"Maya, please don't make any decision based off the feeling that you owe me something. It's my job." He reminded her. He watched a bothered look cross her face for a moment before she stood up and stretched. The wall was back. He had said something. It was always something.

"I'm going to bed." She announced and before he could even stand to wish her good sleep, she was gone.

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Maya knew that she should wait to look through Lucas' things when she had his permission and he was home, but she was sick of being stepped around like she was delicate. So as soon as she had sent him to the grocery store, she made a bee line for the studio. After all, he was in her house, which gave her the right to look in the studio. So maybe she might just happen to catch a glance of his file while she was at it. What could be the harm in that? It could all just be an accident. Maya had always been good at lying to herself. She shut the door behind her and let her eyes sweep the room. She set her gun on the table by the bedroom door. Lucas had taught her to fire it the week before and she was required to take it everywhere with her, even the bathroom, when Lucas wasn't home. She saw one of his flannels spread across his chair and a cheap paperback novel was in the chair as if he had been up late reading. His toiletries had all been moved into the bathroom. His bed was made. An empty cup was on the bedside table. Other than that, there was no sign the room had been lived in. Where did he keep his things? She walked across to the closet and opened the doors. Immediately she knew he kept everything in here. The whole space smelled like him. She took a deep breath and just for a moment she was transported back to a night under the stars in Texas.

"Nothing has changed." She realized to herself, then began to paw through his things, looking for a briefcase or a backpack, anything that would hold his case files. Eventually she stumbled upon a messenger bag and she pulled it out and began to look through the contents. A few files from his Texas department, and then she removed a fat folder with the New York department's symbol on it. Jackpot. She knew she wouldn't have much time to read all of it. So she would have to skim. She opened it and immediately a wallet sized picture of her fluttered out. She picked it up. It was a picture of her from Riley's wedding, smiling lightheartedly at the camera in her blue dress, eyes sparkling. The picture had been folded many times and she could tell that this must belong to him. She set it aside, a thought to address later. She turned page after page, reading Tim's comments, license plates, stolen car reports, news files on the subway shooting and all the phone numbers of witnesses or family members. Only ten minutes in and Maya was getting a headache. A lot of words and no pictures, a lot of numbers and no clues. Until she made a discovery. She turned a page, just trying to get through the thick file, when sh froze. It was a picture of the business man, lying dead where he had fallen. Forensic photos. But it wasn't the gory wound that made her stop. It was the gun dropped a few paces away from him. And the bullet hole in his head. The _side_ of his head. She let out of slow breath. They had it all wrong. How could she have missed that? How could THEY have missed it? She stood, not even caring that she was leaving Lucas' room an obvious mess. She grabbed the old pager Lucas had left her and hit the button to summon him home. They needed to get to the station right then. She had some questions to ask Tim.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Lucas burst through the front door, gun at the ready, expecting Maya to be broken or bloody, or at least cowering in a corner, her gun forgotten somewhere. Except she wasn't. She was at the bar counter, a cup of coffee in hand, eyes focused intently on a file. She barely looked up.

"You finally showed up." She mumbled as he kicked the door shut behind him, still appalled at her audacity.

"Maya?" he clarified. "You did page me?"

"Duh." She replied and flicked a page over. "Why else would you be here without the ranch dip I asked for?"

"Maya," Lucas started, regaining some of his cool, "I told you, paging me is only for emergencies. I thought something was seriously wrong."

"Something is!" Maya snapped her head up. "You just won't believe this! Gosh, we've been so stupid."

"What are you talking about?" Lucas flicked the safety on and set his gun on the counter and pulled up a bar stool. "What is that?" he motioned to the file she was reading. He watched her shoulders hunch up a tiny bit and her hesitation was palatable.

"Well…" she suddenly seemed to not be able to form a sentence. "You see, I don't think you'll like this…but it was worth it!" she pleaded and he snatched the file from her, suspecting where she was going with this. He closed it and looked at the front. It was his folder. The folder on the case with every bloody, messy picture, every serial killer's face, every possible horrifying thing she could have seen, and she had been reading it. Pouring over it. Anger raced through his veins.

"You have one minute to explain to me why you have this and why I shouldn't take you right down to the station right now and have you arrested for obstructing an investigation." He choked out. Her eyes widened.

"You can't be serious." She stuttered.

"Oh I am." He promised. "Tell me now!" he slammed his fist on the counter, making her jump and slide back in slight fear.

"I knew that you had information that I didn't. I was brought on to help but I couldn't if I didn't have access to all the stuff you did. So I found this in your bag and-"

"You went through my stuff." He locked his jaw. She winced. "While I was out shopping for you." He was trying to process all of it. "You took something that wasn't yours. And you've been reading it this past hour. And then you scare me to death and I come racing back to save you and instead you're here snooping." He turned away, not able to look at her face. "You know it's my job to protect you and-"

"Yes I know!" she screamed. "You only tell me that every five seconds!"

"Well did you ever think that I'm protecting you from seeing things you shouldn't have to?!" he yelled, spinning to face her. She stopped herself from making a smart comeback and considered her words. "When you see these things," he waved the folder in her face, "you may not be scared, but those things, they stay with you, they haunt you. Trust me. I was hired to keep you sane and innocent. And when you do these things, I can't do that for you Maya. I don't care if you don't care. God, I care!" he cried.

"Oh you care?" she cried back. "Funny, considering all you do is call me your "job" or your duty!" she spat. "Yeah that makes me feel great! Oh I'm just a job. I'm not your old friend, you don't care about me personally anymore. You do this all the time, help girls in distress and then run back to Texas where you find a new heroic thing to make you feel so great about yourself! Well guess what! If I'm just another one of those witnesses, if I'm just a number on a spreadsheet to you, I can take care of myself, thanks." She shoved one of the bar stools and went crashing to the floor. Lucas stood watching as she pointed to the folder. "I found out that we have the wrong shooter!" she cried and Lucas' eyes widened. "Yeah! Imagine that! How on earth could Maya be of any help? Oh I don't know, maybe when she finds the real shooter for us!" she snatched the folder from him. "It was the business man. He shot the shooter and then himself. Look at the angle of the bullet entry. He shot himself. I was on the ground. I couldn't tell. The security footage has been tampered with. It must have been." Lucas listened to her, shock seeping through his bones. She could be right. And what would that mean? It would mean that they had been on the wrong track all these weeks while the killers were still out there, not even being threatened. "But don't mind me." She shoved the folder back into his arms. "If you don't want my help, if you think I can't handle it like all the other daisy girls you've saved, then fine. I'll just pack my things and move to Riley's." she turned but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Maya, what are you even talking about?" he was so confused. "What other girls?"

"It's your job." She scoffed. "It's your job to save people. Who are we kidding Lucas? You didn't come here for me. You came here for the money. And you came here because that's what you are: a good guy. You've always been that good guy. Well, I'm tired of being your charity case. I'm not like the other people you save everyday. I'm me. You know me. I'm not going to melt into your arms and beg you to make it go away. I'm not going to run and I'm not going to hide! So stop treating me like just another girl and start treating me like Maya Hart, damn it!" Lucas watched as her shoulders rose and fell with her rapid beating and her eyes crackled with pain. And then it hit him.

"You want this to be personal." He perceived and waited to hear her reaction.

"Um, yeah!" she cried. "This was your second chance, Lucas! Your chance to fix things between us! You came back! And yet you're still treating me like that second girl."

"Second girl?"

"First it was Riley. It was all about Riley and I was just that other girl. You didn't even bother to get to know me. And then it was Texas and I was just the friend that didn't matter. And now it's the case. And I'm just the job, the stupid girl you have to protect. And when the case is done, you're gonna go back to Texas and I'm going to stay and you're never gonna get it!"

"Get what?!"

"That I love you, Lucas Friar! And that I want you to stay! And that until you stay, I'm not going to forgive you!" And with that he grabbed her and pulled her in, dipping down to capture her lips in a kiss. She gasped and her eyes fluttered closed. He pulled back and she looked up at him, eyes glossed over in confusion.

"I'm going to stay, Maya." His voice was husky and she saw the lust in his eyes. "I'm taking my chance. You were never just "some girl". You were my girl."

"What about when we solve the case?" she asked in a daze.

"Then, wherever we go, it will be together." He decided. "I'm not leaving you again. Not because you're my job, but because I can't keep living without you. And I can't keep living with myself for hurting you."

"You mean that?" she asked.

"As much as I ever meant anything in my life." He promised and pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head. Her blonde curls tickled under his nose and he felt her relax into his embrace. "I want to take care of you. I want loving you to be my job. And I don't want that job from anyone else. Understand?"

"Yes." She whispered and took a deep breath into his shirt. "Should we call Tim?" Maya spoke after a while. "He should know about the file."

"In a bit."

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"The first thing we need to do is visit his immediate family. Interview all of them and get a warrant to search his house." Tim explained after Maya had told him her discoveries. "This is a legitimate lead."

"And it makes sense?" Maya checked. She still couldn't believe that she had been the one to find the key point.

"As of now, it's our best lead." Tim nodded and Lucas squeezed Maya's hand reassuringly. The group was gathered in Maya's living room, a plate of meat and cheese on the coffee table and Starbucks cups surrounding the couches. They had been talking for over an hour and would probably still talk late into the night. Tim faced the two on the couch, inseparable it seemed. He had a feeling something had passed between Maya and Lucas recently, and it had brought them closer together and onto better terms.

"And I can still stay on the case with you guys?" Maya asked meekly. She felt Lucas stiffen slightly next to her and she got him to meet her eyes. "Please."

"It's alright with me." Tim answered, waiting to hear what Lucas would say.

"If it would really make you feel better…" he conceded and Maya gave him a small smile.

"Thank you." She replied quietly and her gaze dropped to her lap.

"But as of now, I want you to go get some rest." Lucas added. "You can start up again tomorrow. Tim and I have some things to talk through and you haven't slept in forever."

"Fine. That does sound nice." Maya sighed and heaved herself off the couch. "But I'm taking a bath first." She decided. "Good night, Tim." She waved. He nodded to her.

"Get some good sleep." Tim offered and she nodded her thanks.

"I'll come in and check on you before I go to bed tonight." Lucas told her. Tim waited to hear her protest, but she just nodded again and grabbed her sweater off her chair and disappeared down the hall.

"Is it just me or does she seem a bit more docile today?" Tim asked as soon as he heard her bathroom door close and water begin to run.

"We addressed our past." Lucas replied simply. Tim's eyes focused slightly. He noticed that Lucas looked more at ease than he ever had. His eyes were softer and he seemed more relaxed.

"Did you come to a decision?" Tim asked, wondering how much Lucas would want to share, or if not much really had happened at all and he was just being dramatic or vague.

"I'm not leaving her again." Lucas stated, voice rough. "I cause more hurt than I can imagine by leaving her and all the people who cared about me. I can't do that again, not to her, not to Riley, not to you, not to anyone. I don't know what that means, if it means anything, but when this case is solved, and it will be solved, then I have to decide what to do about all this. Because I'm not leaving her again, Tim. Being back with her has been some of the happiest times even in the midst of total strife. I'm not ok with her being out of my life. Not ever. She makes me a better man."

"What about your mom?" Tim wondered.

"I've been in contact with her and Charlotte. She's doing as well as can be expected, though I'm counting down the days until I can see her again." Lucas admitted. "But Maya needs me here. And for once I'm going to do the right thing and admit to myself that she is one of the most important people to me."

"Seems like you realized quite a few things." Tim agreed. "What about her?"

"She told me she loved me."

"And what does that mean for you two?"

"I know it's been ages, and we're still getting to know each other again, but Tim, I have this feeling that from here on out I'm going to keep falling more and more in love with her every minute. Don't be surprised if I ask her to marry me not that long after the investigation is closed."

"Wow." Tim breathed. "I thought you were opposed to relationships altogether."

"As was she." Lucas nodded. "But like I said, we make each other better people. We understand each other. And no matter how hard we try to separate ourselves from each other, we always end up coming back."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

"Evan Scott." Tim slapped two thick folders on Maya's coffee table and Maya scooted to the edge of the couch to get a good look at the department symbol on the papers. "That's his name. No children, parents are dead, but has a brother living abroad. He apparently has a sister in an assisted living home due to a chronic illness. He was married to a childhood friend named Ava and according to our interview logs, she's still living in their old house and is currently clearing it out to move to an apartment closer to the sister."

"And you said they had no kids?" Lucas clarified.

"None." Tim confirmed.

"At least there's that." Maya sighed and took a tentative sip of the coffee Lucas handed her. "Well wait!" Maya sat up. "The wife has been clearing things out? For moving? No! That means any evidence we would have been able to find will be thrown out or in storage by now."

"Relax." Tim instructed. "I sent officers over yesterday to put a stop on all her packing and make sure she hadn't gotten rid of anything important. First order of business is this morning. We're going to pay Ava Scott a visit."

"And I'm coming, right?" Maya asked, looking from Tim to Lucas, then back to Tim. Lucas grimaced and Tim hesitated.

"Well, Lucas didn't want you to, but I told him it's mandatory. It's been proven that women respond more openly when another woman is present. We need you to come around to add a soft touch to the whole process."

"Soft touch?" Maya scoffed. "You must be joking. There's nothing soft about me, Tim. Lucas can tell you that if you haven't figured it out already."

"Oh I have. But, if you want to come with us, you're going to be gentle, kind, and sympathetic to the wife while we search the house."

"Fine." Maya agreed and stood up. "Let me get dressed."

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"It doesn't look like the house of a killer." Maya admitted as they pulled up in front of the Scott household. It was a simple two story house, white with a ginger trim and navy blue shutters on the windows. The grass was not a specifically nice shade of green, but there were flowers blooming in window boxes and lining the sidewalks, suggesting a feminine taste present.

"They never do." Tim replied and opened the door. Maya slid out of the back seat and Lucas shut the passenger door. The group stood looking at the house, wondering what mysteries might lie behind the front door. Was this really the right path to follow? Before they could second guess, the front door opened and a dog raced to greet them.

"Tilly!" a soft voice scolded and a woman appeared in the doorway. "Come back!" the dog ran circles around Maya's legs and she instinctively bent down to pet and greet the dog. It was a small daschund and it licked her hands in a warm hello. "I'm so sorry." The woman left the shade of the porch and stepped into the light, revealing fair hair and green eyes, fine features and ivory skin. "He has never been very good at listening to commands."

"He's adorable." Maya stood back up and saw the slight surprise in the woman's eyes at a girl arriving with the police.

"Lucas Friar." Lucas held out his hand to shake the woman's. She returned the gesture and nodded to Tim who was retrieving something from the trunk of the car.

"Abigail Scott." She offered her name, then turned to Maya.

"Maya." She took the woman's outstretched hand. "Maya Hart." She decided not to mention that she had been the witness at the shooting. At least not yet. She would save that card for later.

"I assume you're here to collect evidence." Abigail perceived. "The gentlemen yesterday said something about an investigation?"

"May we come in?" Lucas asked politely.

"Of course, excuse me, my mind hasn't been with me these past few weeks." She turned and quickly led them up the front path and into the house. The dog raced ahead and through the door in front of them. Once they all had gathered into the entryway, Tim closed the door behind them. They took in their surroundings. Classical music was playing off somewhere probably the kitchen and three long windows let light into the living room on their left and Maya spied a den to their right. She mentally collected herself and tried to channel her inner-woman.

"I love the colors in here." Maya tried hard to smile warmly.

"Thank you." Abigail nodded graciously and led them into the living room. "I'm so sorry there's no furniture, but it's all in the garage waiting to be loaded into the vans."

"That's perfectly understandable." Lucas replied before Tim could. "And we hate to inconvenience you at this time."

"Oh, well, if there's anything I can do to help the law, of course I would." She seemed to be slightly confused and unaware why the police were really at her house. "So what can I do for you?" she led them back into a small kitchen with windows overlooking the well-kept backyard. Here there were actually chairs and a table, empty breakfast dishes, and a load of dishes running in the dishwasher.

"You know we are here because of your husband." Tim began.

"I was told it had to do with Evan, but as to what I can do, it must be very minimal."

"We are actually not here to talk to you specifically." Lucas added. Abigail looked startled. "We are here on behalf of a murder investigation. We believe your husband, unknowingly, may have been involved. We were wondering if you would grant us permission to search the house." Lucas finished, waiting expectantly.

"You have a warrant?" she asked. "I don't know much about these things, but I suppose you would need a warrant for something like this?"

"We do, ma'am." Lucas confirmed. "But we will not search the premises if you asked us not to." He added, scoring major gentleman points with that one. Maya almost rolled her eyes.

"Well, I suppose you can look." Abigail decided. "I can't imagine you'd find anything helpful. I'd say his study is a good place to start. Everything is boxed up but feel free to go through the boxes."

"Thank you." Tim nodded and he and Lucas excused themselves. Maya began to follow, but Lucas turned back and gave her a look. She frowned.

"Trust us." Lucas mouthed silently to her. She gave up and turned back to take a chair at the table with Abigail.

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"Nothing." Tim slammed another box down in defeat. "Books. Maps. The guy had hobbies. But they're innocent. And the wife gave no sign that she knew he was up to anything, though we have come across many a great actress before."

"According to his file, he worked from home. So if anything would be around, it would be here, in his office, right?"

"You would think." Tim sighed. "Maybe we were wrong. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and paid for that."

"Or maybe he's the key to this whole thing."

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"Oh I do miss him." Abigail continued, stirring her cup of tea. "Evan was my family. Neither of us had brothers or sisters and we were always together as children. Growing up, we were each other's family. But when we got older we realized it was something more. He was so good to me. So selfless."

"I'm sorry you're having to go through this." Maya offered, hoping that Lucas and Tim were finding jackpot clues for what she was having to go through.

"Well, I can't say I didn't expect something like this." Abigail continued offhandedly.

"How so?" Maya replied, her voice fading into a monotone.

"What with that business his awful father roped him into, I was always so worried a message would come home that he'd been killed. I was up almost every night waiting until he came home."

"Business?" Maya locked onto the word, suddenly interested. "Father?"

"Oh yes." Abigail nodded earnestly. "Evan's father was always overbearing. And Evan was an only child, like I said. So I just thought it natural. But it turned out that when Evan turned eighteen his father introduced him to some family business that he insisted Evan help him with. Evan had dreams though. He was always a dreamer. He wanted to be a chef one day, then a mail man the next. He certainly didn't want to get caught sitting behind a desk doing work for his father."

"Naturally." Maya agreed, hoping this was leading somewhere good.

"But when it was time for Evan to apply for college, that cruel man told Evan he wouldn't help him pay for a cent of college if Evan didn't join the business."

"Really?" Maya couldn't believe any parent would be that manipulative.

"Well in so many words." Abigail nodded. "So he had no choice. He wanted to learn new things so badly; he had a thirst for knowledge. So he had to agree. He never really told me what the business was about. Late nights, it was dangerous I know."

"And you never saw anyone or anything…around the house?" Maya couldn't believe it.

"No." Abigail seemed certain. "Believe me, I looked. I was worried it was an affair, or maybe an old addiction he'd picked up again. But he was always in good health and whenever I called he was always willing to talk. Eventually after looking for a few months I decided I was never going to find anything." She seemed to be lost in thought, but straightened up slightly as if she had just come out of a dream. "I'm sorry." Abigail chuckled wryly. "I don't know why I'm talking about this. Who did you say you were?"

"Maya." Maya offered her name again. "I've been involved in closing up the shooting."

"I see." Abigail grew quiet. "I still can't believe your family can be taken away from you in just an instant like that. It all happened so fast."

"I know." Maya nodded. "It was scary, wasn't it?"

"Terrifying." Abigail agreed, not realizing how much Maya really understood. "I hope Evan didn't suffer in those last moments. If I could just have that confirmation, I think I might rest just a bit easier at night."

"He didn't suffer." Maya said the words before she could stop herself. Her heart had gone out to the woman, thinking that if it had been Riley left without Farkle for the rest of her life, the hole would never be filled.

"What?" Abigail looked up.

"Your husband didn't suffer. He was strong and pleaded for everyone's safety. He died quickly." Maya bit her lip. "I was there."

"You were the witness." Abigail breathed and her eyes went glassy. "You were there with Evan."

"He was a good man." Maya lied. For all she knew, Evan was responsible for those peoples' deaths and the attempts on her life.

"He was."

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"You really don't think she knew anything?" Tim asked again as the car raced down the freeway.

"She didn't." Maya promised. "She was a little strange, but she was oblivious. I think Evan was her only link to this planet. Now that he's gone, she doesn't really know what her purpose is."

"Well, I doubt the files we took from his den are going to be much help either." Tim sighed. "And that business she thought he was involved in is as vague as anything else. She couldn't even give us names. The father has been dead for years now and all his accounts went to the city. I suppose we could dive into those old things and check out what the father did, but I doubt those files would say anything about an illegal operation which is what this has to be."

"Imagine him lying to his wife like that all those years." Maya breathed. "How did he do it? Hide it so well?"

"We're not sure he was hiding anything." Lucas reminded her.

"Well he shot himself for a reason. And the gunman." Maya countered. "People who are happily married and in the prime of life don't do that."

"Some do." Tim shrugged. "We can't always pinpoint every motive ever."

"We have to figure this out." Maya sighed in frustration and ran a hand through her messy curls. Lucas looked back at her from the passenger seat. He could feel the desperation radiating from her. "I'm tired of all these dead ends and unanswered questions."

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"How are those sketches coming along?" Lucas asked, looking over Maya's shoulder.

"All right." She cracked her neck once and looked up at him. "Not the easiest thing ever. It feels like years since it all happened." She looked back at her sketches, some of the subway station, the victims, all she could remember, with help from pictures and other evidence to augment her memories.

"Here." Lucas handed her a steaming mug of coffee. "Thought you might want a little pick-me-up."

"Thanks." Maya nodded her appreciation and instead of waving him off like she normally did when she was working, she curled her fingers around the mug and faced away from her easel, an invitation for him to sit down and distract her for a few minutes.

"When's the last time you talked to your mom?" Lucas wondered.

"Last night." She replied.

"I'm assuming everything is fine?"

"She's loving playing the housewife role." Maya smiled nostalgically. "An acting part she's finally good at. Probably because she's not acting. She's genuine."

"You must be relieved to see her so happy."

"Extremely." Maya confirmed. "Seeing her success gives me some hope for my future. Our parents should be our best examples."

"I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately some people don't have the examples they should and when they have access to them, it's too late." Lucas sighed and sipped some of his own coffee, admiring how cute Maya looked with a bandana tied around her hair, holding it out of her way while she drew. For a moment he let himself imagine her out on the deck at the ranch, iced tea in hand, relaxing as the sun set, laughing. It was a peaceful image.

"When's the last time you talked to _your_ mom?" Maya broke the comfortable silence.

"She called this afternoon." Lucas admitted. "She's really tired. But she insists she's fine. Somehow though, I can't help feeling like she's not telling me things. Charlotte says she sleeps a lot more and can't concentrate anymore."

"I really think you should go back to her." Maya knew what his answer would be before she even spoke the words. She had said them to him many times before, always feeling guilty for keeping Lucas from his ailing mother.

"You know I won't do that." Lucas set his empty mug on the coffee table and regarded her across the space between them. "Not until I can be sure you're safe."

"You know how you can make sure of that?" Maya stood and stretched, signaling she was about to head to bed.

"How?"

"Let's find out what's really going on, once and for all."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

"A rivalry." Tim was at the head of the conference table at the precinct. Lucas and Maya sat to his right and left and Riley and Farkle were sorting through Evan Scott's mail at the other end of the room. "Obviously the gunman and Evan were having a disagreement over something. The gunman was sent to kill Evan and Evan had no choice but to kill him. But then if he killed the gunman, why would he kill himself right after if he could get away?"

"He was walking around with a gun. I think he expected trouble." Maya pointed out. "He might have known he was being tracked or whatever."

"Or he's just paranoid, like every other businessman." Lucas piped up as he flipped through Evan's bills and receipts.

"I think the key lies in Evan's business." Maya surmised. "It has to. Evan must be a key to this if he was worth killing."

"What business? There has been no sign whatsoever of anything besides banking." Tim tipped back in his chair. "We're at a loss for information. Nothing in his house. His wife is completely ignorant."

"Evan said specifically that he had what the gunman had come for." Maya insisted. "That means there was some sort of transaction taking place between them."

"That could just be words. An empty promise to get the gunman to reconsider." Lucas pointed out, tapping his pen on the table.

"Ugh!" Maya pushed her chair back and stood. "People! I'm just throwing out ideas. That's more than any of you are doing, sitting around here and shooting down everything I come up with!"

"Maya…"Riley soothed and Maya regained her composure. She sat back down and swallowed.

"I would like to pursue the path that leads us to Evan's work. I think it's our best option to discovering more underhanded deals that could potentially end all of this. If any of you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it, but I'm not content to just wait around for more information to come to us while I walk around with a target on my back. Lucas needs to get home to his mother and Riley and Farkle have a kid to think about. Tim has to support his family and I…well I haven't been into work in weeks. Maya realized as she said it how pathetic her life sounded compared to everyone else's noble concerns. But nonetheless, she had to make a point.

"Then if we're starting that, this might help." Farkle set a bundle of envelopes down on the table and Tim sat forward, curiosity sparking in his eyes. "Riley and I compiled a collection of mail without return addresses on it. It's quite a bit, but most likely, some of it is shady. Of course the letters themselves have all been burnt or shredded if it's important, but searching through his recycling proved useful."

"Farkle, you're a genius." Maya breathed as she fingered the paper stack. "This is a perfect start."

"But if there's no return address, how to find where it came from?" Riley frowned in confusion and Maya looked to Tim and Lucas, not knowing the answer herself, doubt flickering across her face.

"Well, it's protocol that every post office keep record of every letter that is sent through. So if we can't find the exact address, we can find the county it was sent from." Lucas thought aloud.

"The county? So we narrow it down to like, two billion properties?" Maya couldn't believe it. "That doesn't help at all."

"There's also post office security footage." Tim offered. "Usually not useful, but there's the occasional helpful hint. It just takes days to get through since it's such a busy enterprise."

"I'll take it." Maya decided before there were any more protests voiced. "Please, let's go to the post office and start something."

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Lucas was making dinner and Maya was sitting on the couch, sketching up the latest plans to send in to work.

"Dinner. You're hungry, right?" Lucas called.

"Sure." She slid off the couch and sat in the bar stool, taking a plate of Norwegian sausage and noodles. He joined her and they were silently focused on their food. Until the call came. Lucas' phone rang.

"Just a sec." he excused himself and went to stand by the windows. "Just what exactly did you find?" he asked Tim.

"Nothing very helpful." Tim sighed. "However the security footage did capture something we didn't expect: a postal service man was seen coming and going that day, a man who allegedly did not work there. And guess who he looked like?"

"Evan Scott." Lucas guessed, already knowing what the answer would be.

"Bingo." Tim confirmed. "Now we're more confused than ever."

"I wish I could help more." Lucas sighed. "Any chance I get I'm looking over the files."

"Your main concern is Maya. We understand that." Tim assured him.

"Hey, any chance at seconds?" Maya stood up. He turned to face her. He nodded motioned to the stove before returning to his call. She rolled her eyes and walked around the counter and into the kitchen.

Lucas' brain flashed a second later. He turned around quickly saying,

"Oh wait, the pan is-" Maya screamed and the pan went clattering to the floor. She clutched her palm and wrist and looked at the mess on the kitchen floor to the expression on Lucas' face. They stared at each other, her eyes tearing up, his full of concern. "Maya, I'm so sorry, I forgot to tell you that it was just out of the oven."

"Oh you forgot?" her voice cracked. "That seems to be a thing with you! Forgetting about people! Tell me, Lucas, how long did it take for you to forget about me this time? A whole phone conversation, not even a plane trip this time." She sucked in a shaky breath and raced out of the kitchen, slamming her bedroom door. He heard a short wail come from down the hall, then three loud thuds, then quiet. He was shocked.

"Lucas?" Tim's voice rang from the phone. "Please tell me that wasn't as bad as I thought it was."

"I think she's still upset." Lucas sighed and put the phone back to his ear.

"If you ask me, that girl is upset about more than just a burnt hand. Girls can be iffy like that. Any one thing can remind them of a million other things you've done wrong."

"Well isn't that convenient?" Lucas deadpanned.

"Well, I trust you'll set things straight. For now, keep your personal issues out of this and make sure our witness isn't badly burnt. After you do that, then I suggest you do some serious apologizing, followed by a long backrub, then back to the apologizing."

"Thanks for the tip."

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"Maya?" Lucas stepped out of the bathroom, basketball shorts situated low on his hips. "You still up?" he looked around the living room and didn't see anyone. Her tea mug and sketch pad were by her chair, but no lights were on. "Maya?" he approached her room and knocked on the door before stepping in. The lights were off.

"Yes, I'm here." A muffled voice replied from the closet.

"Maya?" Lucas reached out to open the doors, but a loud thud from inside made him stop.

"It's bad manners to enter someone's house without their permission." Her voice was thick and forced. It sounded like she had been crying.

"I'm sorry." He rolled his eyes. "May I come in?"

"No. Maya isn't home now. Try again next year."

"Very funny. Maya, open up." He prodded.

"Leave me alone. This is my house and I was promised my privacy."

"And it's my job to make sure you're mentally and physically stable. I need to check on you. Let me in."

"Betrayed." She muttered.

"Pardon?" he leaned closer to the door to try to hear her.

"You always asked me what you did wrong, or how I feel, or why I can't forgive you." She narrated, "And it's because I feel betrayed."

"How?" he didn't understand.

"The scholarship." She breathed, as if a weight had suddenly been lifted off her shoulders.

"What scholarship?" he thought hard about his graduation days.

"The Avery Scholarship?" Maya clarified, her voice still meek and weepy.

"What about it?"

"It was mine." She coughed. "I worked my butt off to get that scholarship senior year and I was the lowest income household in that class. But I knew you wouldn't be able to do vet school without it. So I dropped out. In order to qualify for the scholarship you have to apply to a private college. I applied to a public. So the next in line for the Avery was you."

Lucas sank to the ground at the truth hit him. Maya had given up a prestigious art schooling for him so he could pursue a career he never actually started. He used her scholarship to leave New York and her and start at the private police academy in North Carolina.

"I assumed you would stay in New York, since that's what you had always told us, and use the scholarship for vet school. But two days after graduation, you were on the plane, with my money and my future. If I had known you were going to waste it, I would never have given it up."

"Maya, why didn't you tell me?" he wondered, stunned at the truth. Stunned she had waited this long without saying anything.

"Because. It's like Mr. Matthews said: it's not up to me how your future goes. Only you can decide that for yourself. After a couple of months, I decided that I couldn't dwell on the decisions you made. Yes, I was still unhappy, but you had to make choices for you and I would have to make them for me. It was my choice to turn down the Avery. It was your choice to do what you wanted with it. Who was I to judge that?"

"Maya, you could be a full-time artist right now, exhibiting art all over the world! And I stole that from you."

"No. I gave it up. You used the scholarship that was offered to you. The two actions never connected. And I wanted to keep it that way. I didn't want you to feel guilty. After I saw the way you loved police work, I couldn't turn it around and tell you it should have been mine." She stopped and drew in a long, soft breath, then let it out ever so slowly.

"Why are you in your closet?" Lucas asked, back resting up against the door.

"My hand hurts." He felt her lean up against the door from the inside so they were back to back. "And my heart hurts. Ow. My feelings." She sniffled.

"Maya, please understand, if I could go back and make sure you took the scholarship, I would. But you also have to understand that I'm glad I left New York. I met some great people and did some great things in Texas and North Carolina for those years. But I also wouldn't trade the world for this time I have back here at home, with you."

"I'm partially to blame. I hated you for a reason you only knew the surface of." She admitted. He listened to her confess her wrongdoing as well and it hit him just how much she had really grown up. He was intrigued by this mature Maya.

"Can you please open the door?" he asked, determined to try again.

"No, now I'm all red and puffy. I don't want you to look at me. But…." He heard her move around, then the door opened a crack and a palm, wrist, and forearm stuck out. "Here. Please fix it." He chuckled at her silliness, then grimaced when he saw the burn. It wasn't horrible, but it did look painful and he definitely needed to put something on it.

"Wait here." He told her and grabbed some burn ointment from the medicine cabinet. He returned and gently applied it to the small hand. "Ok, you don't rub this stuff in. You have to let it sit until it just soaks in. That's how it soothes the skin."

"Ok." She replied tiredly.

"You want to go to bed." He guessed.

"Bed sounds lovely." She admitted.

"Get changed. I'll be right back." He left her alone to change into her pajamas and brush her teeth. When she came out of the bathroom he was waiting by her bed. Her usual sidetable that was by her living room chair was now by her bed. "You can rest your arm on this." He offered. "So the stuff doesn't get on the blankets."

"Great." She would've taken anything. She fell down on the bed and let Lucas take her arm and place it on the table. She was asleep before he could even leave the room.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

"Evan wasn't a big link in the business, whatever it was." Lucas bit down on the end of his pen in concentration. Tim looked up, ready to listen, and Maya continued to paint with peaceful strokes. As soon as the work started, Maya sat herself down at the window with her easel to paint, listening to every word spoken, but staying checked out.

"What makes you say that?" Tim wondered.

"They killed him." Lucas felt as if what he was saying was so obvious that it couldn't be helpful.

"It might not even have a thing to do with his father's business." Maya pointed out. And unfortunately, she was correct. Lucas dropped his pen in frustration and leaned back to stare at the ceiling. They didn't have a single solid lead. Nothing that stood out. Nothing except the fact that the victim was actually the murderer. Or a victim of himself?

"Maybe we should look into other areas of his life now. Friends he had, any way he could have gotten connected with the wrong people." Tim suggested.

"I still think Evan is important." Maya smoothed her hands on her paint smock and faced the two men. "He intrigues me. He was a balance between a good man and someone who resorted to a business he didn't want to be in. Couldn't escape from."

"Maybe if we talk to his friends, they can tell us more about him. More than his wife could." Lucas thought aloud.

"I agree. We should begin to canvas his relationships outside the home. See if there was anyone he confided in." Tim stood and collected his briefcase. "I'll get started and bring over the profiles I come across."

"Keep me updated." Lucas nodded and saw Tim to the door. Maya still sat at her easel, pondering. They were getting farther out, she could feel it. She thought they should stay centered with Evan. Evan was the one that had the gun. Evan was the target, Evan was the murderer.

"What are you thinking about?" Lucas asked, startling her out of her thoughts. She merely shook her head with a sad smile on it before getting up and heading to the bedroom. He watched her go with hesitation. Did he go after? Or let her alone? He watched her door shut from the hallway and heard her music go on. So he would leave her alone. For now.

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Maya scrolled though page after page of web articles on the subway shooting. She was mentioned multiple times and every time there was a picture, she quickly skipped over it before the temptation to look got the better of her and her nightmares. According to his obituary, a private service would be held for Evan and his family during the coming weekend.

"What family?" Maya scoffed. The only person who seemed to care was his wife Ava. She sighed in dissatisfaction and decided to research the brother that Tim said worked away from home. His name popped up almost immediately: Terrance Scott. He was a big-shot businessman who worked in Italy. Maya saw only a few pictures of him, but most of her information was in articles. Codes he had passed, estates he had purchased, and charities he had donated to. None of the articles referred to New York or any family of Terrance's either.

"Maya?" Lucas knocked on her door and she quickly shut her computer as he entered. "What are you doing?" he asked congenially.

"Just some budgeting for work." She lied. "Agatha hates the numbers so I do most of them when we collaborate."

"I was thinking frozen yogurt sounded pretty good tonight." He suggested. She saw in his eyes that he was trying to give her something to do besides be shut up in the flat.

"Yeah that sounds nice." She replied quietly. "I'll just get my shoes on."

"Right after you tell me what you were looking at on your laptop?" Lucas suggested. She froze as she was sliding off her bed. She looked up at him and began to stutter, before Lucas held up his hand to stop her. "It's my job to notice things, Maya. What were you doing?"

"I want to go to Evan Scott's memorial service." She blurted, deciding to give him the partial truth of what she had been thinking.

"Why?" he asked in surprise.

"I told you, he intrigues me." She shrugged.

"Maya, you can't just go to a dead man's service because he intrigues you. If that were the case, reporters would be everywhere around this apartment."

"No, that's not what I meant." She decided to pull out the trauma card. "I guess, I just feel like I owe something to him. He stood up for me in that subway and I heard him die. We bled out on the same floor. I met his wife." She almost added, "and I will meet his brother soon enough," but stopped herself.

"I'm not so sure, Maya." Lucas was hesitant. "Besides, it's probably a private service, right?"

"I can get in. I'm the witness for God's sake! I'll just call Ava or something. Pull some strings. It's just a service. They won't even care. They won't even know I'm there."

"We. You mean they won't even know _we're_ there." Lucas rephrased her statement.

"Yes, of course." Maya brushed the words to the back of her mind. Something she'd have to take care of. If she planned on meeting Terrance Scott, she'd need to be alone, or maybe with Ava. Lucas could ruin the whole thing.

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"I didn't think you'd come." Ava grasped Maya's hands firmly as the blue-eyed girl joined her in the front of the church. "Traffic was bad on my way down."

"I made it." Maya blew warm air into her cupped hands quickly, trying to get some heat back in her bones. The church was dark, cold, and empty. Only a few other people mulled around the room and Maya suspected they were the staff that had to be present at every service.

"I hope security didn't give you any trouble." Ava sighed in passing.

"None." Maya nodded behind her to Lucas who was speaking with one of the boys lighting candles.

"He really doesn't leave your side." Ava observed fondly. "Evan was the same way." She reminisced, but did not cry. Maya was glad of this since tears were never her cup of tea. She wished she had Riley with her right now to make conversation flow more easily. Riley was good at playing housewife.

"Ava, I have to be honest." Maya blurted breathlessly.

"You're not just here for Evan." She asserted, staring blankly down at the closed coffin.

"Well-"

"Don't bother. I agreed to let you come, knowing you were going to ask me something again. Why would you want to come back to remember him? I'm sure you remember him every night in your dreams."

"Nightmares." Maya corrected. "I see him often."

"Yes." Ava bit her lip and blinked a few times.

"I need to talk to Terrance." Maya decided to take a shot in the dark.

"Terrance?" Ava frowned in confusion. "Why?"

"He's the closest person to Evan beside you. I need answers. Please. You have to understand." Maya began to plead. She was getting desperate. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lucas looking at paintings and flipping through songbooks in the back of the chapel. He was keeping his distance. Maya just hoped he didn't ask what she and Ava had talked about.

"I haven't seen Terrance in years." Ava pondered. "The last time I saw him was at Evan's thirtieth birthday. He was in town that day. He stopped by."

"Stopped by? They are brothers, aren't they?"

"Hardly." Ava scoffed. "They never spoke. Evan never talked about him. They grew up together but were as different as day and night. Terrance was a people person. A true businessman. Evan usually got roped into whatever his family was doing and had to play along. They don't care about each other. Evan didn't even have a picture of him in the house."

"Then why were there emails between them in Evan's computer history?" Maya wondered aloud. Ava took this to be an accusation and tried to come up with a quick reply.

"That is strange." She looked taken aback. "I don't recall Evan ever mentioning contact with Terrance. He just would have no reason to."

"That's why I'm here. It's a loose end I need to tie up." Maya breathed.

"I can't tell you where he is or what he's doing." Ava shrugged in defeat.

"I thought he might come today." Maya hoped.

"Here?" Ava laughed bitterly. It was a dreadful sound. "No. No, he wouldn't come. Though it would be just like Terrance to only show up for his brother when it was his funeral." With that Ava handed Maya a wrinkled card. Terrance's name and phone number were on it.

"Where did you get this?" Maya asked.

"Had it for years. But everything is digital now. If you want to talk to him so badly, there." She crossed her arms and nodded at the piece of paper in Maya's hands. Maya looked up and saw Ava's face soften.

"Your husband was a good man." Maya touched Ava's arm gently.

"I know." Ava's voice was fierce with determination. Determined to believe that Evan was good. Even though she was realizing that she had known nothing about him. Maya turned and walked down the main aisle, feeling a dark grip chasing after her. She sped up, feeling death nipping at her heels. Lucas tried to stop her as he stepped out of a pew.

"Slow down." He tried to take her arm but she breezed past him and started to run. Her breath came in gasps as she burst out of the doors and onto the sidewalk. She turned down a side street and paused, putting her hands on her knees, trying to block out the image of Ava being beaten and still convincing herself that Evan was good. "Maya!" Lucas chastised when he caught up to her. "What's wrong?"

"She's so lost." Maya gasped. "They all were."

"What are you talking about." He knelt next to her, trying to get her to look at him.

"Evan. He wasn't a good man, was he?" her chest rose and fell as she looked at the ground.

"Maya-"

"Was he?"

"No man is a good man." Lucas sighed.

"How could she be so wrong about him? She just wanted a place. And now she's even more alone than she was without him."

"That's love."

"No. That is deception." Maya wheezed. "She really is convinced that his life was her. When his life consisted of so many things that couldn't touch her. He never saw her. He saw through her. She was a placemark."

"Perhaps."

"Perhaps? How can she be so confused?" Maya stood and turned away from him, putting her hands on her head in exasperation. "How can she see those things in him?"

"Because she's seeing what she wants to see." Lucas bit his lip, trying to find the right words. "Back in Texas, my mom always told me that people make up stories. Whether it's to comfort themselves or something else, we all do it. Because we can't handle the truth. Because if we let the truth sit in us, we'd die. Like when I was miles away from you, I'd imagine you were happy, perfectly happy, cold and distant, and successful. And then I wouldn't have to feel bad about leaving you."

"Or like in middle school, how I'd lie awake at night and tell myself that you and Riley couldn't possibly be together forever." Maya practically whispered. Lucas froze at the raw confession from his friend. "It was a comforting thought." She turned and met his gaze. He had a straight face. Her face was distraught. Blue eyes met blue. His hair was styled lightly to one lean to one side. Her hair fell in pieces around her face, framing her cheeks. "We need to find out what happened to Evan." Maya swallowed. "I've been telling myself that things can be the same again once we solve the murder. But we both know that's a comforting lie. So now I'm not doing this to make things the same again. I'm doing this so that things can be different, Lucas. If we don't tie this up, I'll die. I'll be stuck in a dance between life and death forever. And I don't dance. I won't."

"I know." Was all he said.

"Whatever it takes." She pleaded. "It's ok to do whatever it takes to make something right." She spoke the words to herself.

"Maya…" Lucas warned. "Don't go crazy on me."

"Huh?" her eyes cleared and she looked back at him. "Sorry, just thinking to myself." She added quickly. "Can we go home?"

"Sure." He conceded and took her arm gently as she allowed herself to be led back to the car. He breathed a sigh of relief but watched her skeptically as she walked next to him. Whatever it takes? What was she talking about?


End file.
